Short Interest in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Declines By 29.5%

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,590,000 shares, a decline of 29.5% from the February 13th total of 12,180,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,690,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on JNPR. Barclays upped 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. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Five investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Juniper Networks has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.80.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Juniper Networks 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was 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 through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 60.3% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 91.9% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 139.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

NYSE JNPR traded up $0.07 during trading on Thursday, hitting $36.15. 1,981,085 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,111,384. The company has a market capitalization of $12.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $33.72 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.52. 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 (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%. As a group, analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.