Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Acquires 632,423 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 36.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,361,572 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 632,423 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned about 0.71% of Juniper Networks worth $88,441,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 20.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 210,338 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $8,153,000 after purchasing an additional 35,337 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,337,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 446,529 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $17,406,000 after buying an additional 21,651 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,522 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056 shares during the period. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $229,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on JNPR. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE JNPR traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $35.56. 981,602 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,231,940. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. The business's 50-day moving average is $35.50 and its 200-day moving average is $36.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 102.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

Juniper Networks Company Profile

Juniper Networks, Inc designs, develops, and sells network products and services worldwide. The company offers routing products, such as ACX series universal access routers to deploy high-bandwidth services; MX series Ethernet routers that function as a universal edge platform; PTX series packet transport routers; wide-area network SDN controllers; and session smart routers.