AlphaQuest LLC Trims Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

AlphaQuest LLC lessened its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 83.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,872 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 9,212 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC's holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $70,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Juniper Networks by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 7,668 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Juniper Networks by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,957,317 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $115,276,000 after acquiring an additional 33,016 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $1,374,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Juniper Networks by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,394 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $577,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,182,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.3 %

JNPR stock traded down $0.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $36.07. 6,074,254 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,120,782. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.72 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.49. The company has a market capitalization of $12.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46.

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

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNPR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.80.

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.