105,600 Shares in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Acquired by Trexquant Investment LP

Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 105,600 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,955,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 139.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 41.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,654 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.51 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $34.64. The company had a trading volume of 537,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,283,031. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The company has a market capitalization of $11.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $35.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.15.

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 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 102.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Juniper Networks Company 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.