Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) is Alpine Associates Management Inc.'s 5th Largest Position

Alpine Associates Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 16.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,234,564 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 441,500 shares during the period. Juniper Networks comprises 5.1% of Alpine Associates Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Alpine Associates Management Inc. owned approximately 0.67% of Juniper Networks worth $83,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. Amundi increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $159,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,559,884 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,337,000. Twin Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 760.3% during the 3rd quarter. Twin Securities Inc. now owns 678,257 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $26,438,000 after purchasing an additional 599,420 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,758,844 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $614,280,000 after purchasing an additional 574,418 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 172,681.3% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 552,900 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $21,552,000 after purchasing an additional 552,580 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNPR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

NYSE JNPR traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $35.61. The stock had a trading volume of 2,745,617 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,187,387. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.72 and a 52-week high of $39.79. The company has a market cap of $11.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.63. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. Equities analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is 102.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.