7,012,502 Shares in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Bought by Norges Bank

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 7,012,502 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $262,618,000. Norges Bank owned 2.12% of Juniper Networks as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,412,000 after buying an additional 7,668 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $1,374,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 4.5% during 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. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,182,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,758,844 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $614,280,000 after buying an additional 574,418 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

NYSE JNPR traded down $0.06 on Tuesday, reaching $36.14. 1,815,982 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,286,070. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.72 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The company has a market cap of $12.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $36.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Barclays lifted 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. Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the 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 represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

Juniper Networks 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.