Sei Investments Co. Sells 196,016 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Sei Investments Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 88.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,922 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 196,016 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.'s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 165,559 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $6,200,000 after purchasing an additional 32,877 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $3,131,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,761 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 52,174 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,954,000 after acquiring an additional 7,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 209.3% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 85,977 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $3,220,000 after acquiring an additional 58,178 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of JNPR stock traded up $0.26 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $34.90. 1,817,097 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,284,936. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.58, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $35.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last issued 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.