Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 21,651 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 446,529 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 21,651 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.14% of Juniper Networks worth $17,406,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $80,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 10.6% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,698 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $804,000 after buying an additional 2,087 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 19.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 390,559 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $14,474,000 after purchasing an additional 64,510 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the first quarter valued at about $587,000. Finally, Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Juniper Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $225,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on JNPR shares. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday, September 16th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.50.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.78 on Friday, reaching $37.63. The stock had a trading volume of 4,593,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,635,864. The business's 50 day moving average is $38.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $12.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 0.93. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.83 and a 1 year high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is currently 115.79%.

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.