Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Hold" by the six ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $39.80.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded 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. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,264,855 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,620,269,000 after purchasing an additional 599,214 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $477,593,000 after acquiring an additional 2,167,567 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,897,002 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $370,461,000 after purchasing an additional 356,672 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth $262,618,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 987,431 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.08 on Friday, hitting $34.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,628,663 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,288,371. Juniper Networks has a one year low of $33.42 and a one year high of $39.79. The firm has a market cap of $11.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.35, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.06.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is 102.33%.

About Juniper Networks

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.