Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Stake Lessened by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 190,908 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 11,800 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.06% of Juniper Networks worth $7,150,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 60.3% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the third quarter worth about $61,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 84.7% in the third quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $76,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 89.0% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,922 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lifted 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

JNPR stock traded up $0.18 during trading on Friday, hitting $36.16. The stock had a trading volume of 4,400,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,412,638. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market cap of $12.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87. The company's 50 day moving average price is $37.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.80. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.72 and a 1-year high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last posted 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 102.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.