Short Interest in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Increases By 5.9%

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) saw a large increase in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,600,000 shares, an increase of 5.9% from the July 15th total of 11,900,000 shares. Approximately 3.9% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.6 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNPR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Argus raised Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of JNPR traded up $0.05 on Friday, reaching $38.86. 1,569,328 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,630,724. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.47. Juniper Networks has a 52-week low of $24.87 and a 52-week high of $39.01. The stock has a market cap of $12.63 billion, a PE ratio of 56.32, a PEG ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 0.95. 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 (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.58% and a return on equity of 8.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Juniper Networks’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 127.54%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.17, for a total transaction of $195,369.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 981,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,509,120.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.17, for a total transaction of $195,369.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 981,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,509,120.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total value of $1,440,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,435 shares in the company, valued at $1,059,660. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 119,779 shares of company stock worth $4,339,795 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 2,069.4% in the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 781 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the second quarter worth $31,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the second quarter worth $36,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.