Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Stake Increased by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 334,148 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,865 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned about 0.10% of Juniper Networks worth $12,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 25.5% during 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 period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $1,374,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,394 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 660 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,182,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 3.8% in 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of JNPR stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $36.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,815,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,286,070. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $12.04 billion, a PE ratio of 42.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $36.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.38. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.72 and a 12-month high of $39.79.

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 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.