Oak Thistle LLC Sells 57,892 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Oak Thistle LLC lessened its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 88.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,662 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 57,892 shares during the quarter. Oak Thistle LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the first quarter worth about $55,000. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total value of $1,440,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 29,435 shares in the company, valued at $1,059,660. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total value of $205,868.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,003,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,187,078.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total value of $1,440,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,435 shares in the company, valued at $1,059,660. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 88,330 shares of company stock valued at $3,148,320. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Juniper Networks stock traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $36.75. 1,252,250 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,993,951. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.46. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.87 and a fifty-two week high of $38.04. The stock has a market cap of $11.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.26, a P/E/G ratio of 9.50 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.09). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 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 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on JNPR shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, April 26th. Argus upgraded Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.00.

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.