StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR)

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a research note published on Saturday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Argus raised shares of Juniper Networks from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Juniper Networks has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $35.00.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.93 on Friday. Juniper Networks has a fifty-two week low of $24.87 and a fifty-two week high of $38.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $35.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $12.00 billion, a PE ratio of 53.52, a P/E/G ratio of 9.57 and a beta of 0.95.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.02%. Analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Juniper Networks news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, 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 is available through the SEC website. In other Juniper Networks news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $1,440,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 29,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,059,660. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.86, for a total value of $193,647.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 986,764 shares in the company, valued at $34,398,593.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 145,889 shares of company stock valued at $5,243,973 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 71,206 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,596,000 after purchasing an additional 2,180 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 297.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,300 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $157,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217 shares during the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 1.3% during the first quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 73,878 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,738,000 after buying an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Juniper Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $2,543,000. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 14.3% in the first quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 6,203 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 776 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.