Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.55.

JNPR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 11th.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total value of $205,868.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,003,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,187,078.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total transaction of $205,868.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,003,429 shares in the company, valued at $37,187,078.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $3,645,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 73,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602 in the last quarter. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 39.6% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 727,004 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $26,943,000 after purchasing an additional 206,072 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 0.8% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,308 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,754,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in Juniper Networks during the first quarter worth about $235,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.1% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 437,732 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $16,222,000 after buying an additional 13,203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the first quarter worth about $4,799,000. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $34.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.74. Juniper Networks has a 52-week low of $24.87 and a 52-week high of $38.04. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $36.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.01. The company has a market capitalization of $11.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.33 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 127.54%.

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.