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

Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.80.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on JNPR shares. 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. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $262,618,000. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $477,593,000 after buying an additional 2,167,567 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $159,510,000 after acquiring an additional 1,559,884 shares during the last quarter. Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd purchased a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth $43,413,000. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 70.1% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 2,811,005 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $105,272,000 after acquiring an additional 1,158,713 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR opened at $34.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $35.76 and its 200-day moving average is $37.06. The stock has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. Juniper Networks has a 1-year low of $33.42 and a 1-year 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.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 anticipate that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.33%.

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.