Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

JNPR has been the topic of a number of other reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed a sector weight rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays reissued an equal weight rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Juniper Networks from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $34.27.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $36.06 on Wednesday. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $24.87 and a 12-month high of $38.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.41 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $36.95 and a 200 day moving average of $32.49.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.63%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.53, for a total transaction of $208,479.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,019,589 shares in the company, valued at $38,265,175.17. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $3,645,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 73,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.53, for a total value of $208,479.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,019,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,265,175.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 31,014 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,476 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $1,036,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 88,358 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,283,000 after acquiring an additional 16,513 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 43,510 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,617,000 after acquiring an additional 2,694 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $3,756,000. 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.