Proficio Capital Partners LLC Makes New $1.93 Million Investment in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 51,419 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,926,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 22.2% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,996 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 1,451 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 14,734 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 2,506 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Juniper Networks by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,447 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in Juniper Networks by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 118,036 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,601,000 after purchasing an additional 2,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 49.3% during the 3rd quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 30,660 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,195,000 after purchasing an additional 10,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on JNPR. Evercore ISI upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.31 during trading on Monday, reaching $35.76. The company had a trading volume of 5,898,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,201,647. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $36.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.69. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.72 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.28% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.