Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Buys 52,713 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 71.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 126,094 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 52,713 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL's holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $4,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JNPR. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 6.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,820 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $851,000 after buying an additional 1,283 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 9.1% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 11,066 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 210,338 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $8,153,000 after buying an additional 35,337 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the third quarter valued at about $25,337,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $17,406,000 after buying an additional 21,651 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the 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 owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of JNPR stock traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $34.34. 1,727,525 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,274,906. The company's 50-day moving average price is $35.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.94. The company has a market cap of $11.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. 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 12 month low of $33.42 and a 12 month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last issued 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 expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on JNPR shares. Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Evercore ISI raised 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 report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.80.

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.