Brokerages Set Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Price Target at $39.80

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.80.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on JNPR shares. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $12.04 billion, a PE ratio of 42.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $36.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.52. Juniper Networks has a 1 year low of $33.72 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. Equities research analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 139.5% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 84.7% during the 3rd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% 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.