Barclays Raises Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Price Target to $41.00

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) had its target price boosted by stock analysts at Barclays from $40.00 to $41.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 18.36% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on JNPR. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.9 %

JNPR traded down $0.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $34.64. 1,513,519 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,895,829. The stock has a market cap of $11.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 0.98. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $24.87 and a twelve month high of $38.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $36.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.80.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 5.57%. Equities analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In related news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total transaction of $190,262.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $205,071.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 840,518 shares in the company, valued at $31,023,519.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JNPR. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $234,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 300,096 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,122,000 after acquiring an additional 1,573 shares during the period. Regis Management CO LLC bought a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $245,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 202.2% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 218,757 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,107,000 after acquiring an additional 146,365 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 15,726 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $583,000 after acquiring an additional 2,306 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently 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.