Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) saw a large decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,920,000 shares, a decline of 9.4% from the October 15th total of 10,950,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 3.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gould Capital LLC raised its position in Juniper Networks by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 29,298 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,142,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Juniper Networks by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,540,330 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $371,269,000 after buying an additional 417,050 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Juniper Networks by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 21,015 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $819,000 after buying an additional 1,416 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Juniper Networks by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 98,992 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,859,000 after buying an additional 10,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in Juniper Networks by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 11,066 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $431,000 after buying an additional 921 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

JNPR stock traded down $0.91 on Monday, hitting $35.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,354,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,733,742. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $38.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.42. Juniper Networks has a 1 year low of $26.66 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The stock has a market cap of $11.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JNPR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, July 26th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Monday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Juniper Networks has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.50.

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.