LGT Group Foundation Trims Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

LGT Group Foundation lowered its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 63.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 12,111 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 90.9% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $74,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.55.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $205,071.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 840,518 shares in the company, valued at $31,023,519.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 79,267 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.97, for a total transaction of $2,930,500.99. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,563,388.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $205,071.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 840,518 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,023,519.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 227,412 shares of company stock worth $8,392,730 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.5 %

JNPR stock opened at $34.84 on Friday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.87 and a 12-month high of $38.04. The business’s 50-day moving average is $36.57 and its 200 day moving average is $33.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $11.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.49, a PEG ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 4.19%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 127.54%.

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.