Alpine Global Management LLC Purchases 51,564 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Alpine Global Management LLC grew its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 51.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 151,564 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 51,564 shares during the quarter. Juniper Networks accounts for approximately 1.3% of Alpine Global Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Alpine Global Management LLC's holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $5,676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $262,618,000. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $477,593,000 after buying an additional 2,167,567 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $159,510,000 after buying an additional 1,559,884 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Juniper Networks by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,525,290 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $244,372,000 after buying an additional 987,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 42.1% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,542,905 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $95,170,000 after acquiring an additional 753,479 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on JNPR. StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

JNPR stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $35.56. 981,602 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,237,721. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.85 billion, a PE ratio of 41.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 EPS 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given 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 currently 102.33%.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Juniper Networks 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.