FIL Ltd Acquires 2,167,567 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

FIL Ltd grew its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 20.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,167,567 shares during the period. FIL Ltd owned about 3.85% of Juniper Networks worth $477,593,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Gould Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.9% during the third quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 29,298 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,142,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,913 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $184,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 91.9% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.8 %

JNPR traded up $0.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $34.90. The company had a trading volume of 1,817,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,289,641. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The stock has a market cap of $11.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.58, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.08.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last released 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 return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

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.