Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a report issued on Friday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

JNPR has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Juniper Networks from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp reiterated a sector weight rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Juniper Networks stock opened at $34.84 on Friday. Juniper Networks has a 1 year low of $24.87 and a 1 year high of $38.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.74. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.49, a P/E/G ratio of 8.76 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 127.54%.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Juniper Networks news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.10, for a total value of $206,127.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 829,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,770,962.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 221,856 shares of company stock worth $8,187,658 over the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,576 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.5% during the third quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,075 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 8.2% during the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 4,968 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $138,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

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.