Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd Invests $43.41 Million in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,159,220 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $43,413,000. Juniper Networks accounts for about 5.2% of Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd owned about 0.35% of Juniper Networks as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 210,338 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $8,153,000 after purchasing an additional 35,337 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks during the third quarter valued at $25,337,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 5.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 446,529 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $17,406,000 after buying an additional 21,651 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,522 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056 shares during the period. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $229,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $35.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last issued its 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Juniper Networks's payout ratio 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.

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