Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $16.38 Million Stock Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 437,253 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 9,276 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Juniper Networks worth $16,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 60.3% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 84.7% during the 3rd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 89.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,922 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JNPR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of JNPR traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $36.16. The stock had a trading volume of 4,400,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,412,638. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.72 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $37.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.80. The company has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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, analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly 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 at this link. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

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.