Federated Hermes Inc. Buys 3,478 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 24.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,991 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,478 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $74,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 466.4% during the 3rd quarter. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 2,402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $81,000. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, 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 research report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $34.84 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $11.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.49, a P/E/G ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 0.98. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.87 and a twelve month high of $38.04. The company’s fifty day moving average is $36.62 and its 200 day moving average is $33.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 4.19%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $205,071.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 840,518 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,023,519.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $205,071.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 840,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,023,519.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 227,412 shares of company stock worth $8,392,730 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

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.