M&G Plc Makes New $657,000 Investment in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 18,244 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $657,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 73,723 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,173,000 after purchasing an additional 3,177 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $569,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 61.3% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 367,916 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,846,000 after purchasing an additional 139,770 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR opened at $38.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $12.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.25, a PEG ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.87 and a 1-year high of $39.01.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 4.58%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.49, for a total value of $197,146.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 970,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,428,813.51. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total transaction of $1,460,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 124,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,554,324. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.49, for a total value of $197,146.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 970,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,428,813.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 119,779 shares of company stock valued at $4,339,795 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNPR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Argus upgraded Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Juniper Networks currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.25.

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.