Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Acquired by Schroder Investment Management Group

Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 67.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,170 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,145 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group's holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JNPR. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 7,668 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,374,000. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,394 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $614,280,000 after buying an additional 574,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 88,162 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $3,302,000 after purchasing an additional 9,548 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

JNPR stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $34.90. 1,817,097 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,284,936. The stock's 50 day moving average is $35.78 and its 200 day moving average is $37.10. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The company has a market cap of $11.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last released 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 net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. On average, research analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.