Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Reaches New 12-Month Low - What's Next?

Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $33.42 and last traded at $33.99, with a volume of 2222303 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNPR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. 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 data from MarketBeat, Juniper Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.8 %

The business's 50 day simple moving average is $35.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.10. 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 company has a market capitalization 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.

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Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. Research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,264,855 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,620,269,000 after purchasing an additional 599,214 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its position in Juniper Networks by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $477,593,000 after buying an additional 2,167,567 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,897,002 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $370,461,000 after buying an additional 356,672 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $262,618,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,525,290 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $244,372,000 after acquiring an additional 987,431 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Juniper Networks Company 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.