StockNews.com Upgrades Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) to “Strong-Buy”

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on JNPR. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.07 on Thursday. Juniper Networks has a 12 month low of $33.72 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.50. The company has a market cap of $12.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.94, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

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

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in 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 worth $42,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in 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 during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 139.5% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 84.7% during the third quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.