Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Given Hold Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on JNPR. Barclays boosted their target price on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Juniper Networks in a report on Monday, July 22nd. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Argus raised Juniper Networks from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $37.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $24.87 and a twelve month high of $38.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $36.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.36. The stock has a market cap of $12.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.55, a P/E/G ratio of 9.70 and a beta of 0.95.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.58% and a return on equity of 8.02%. Juniper Networks’s quarterly revenue was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is presently 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.86, for a total transaction of $193,647.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 986,764 shares in the company, valued at $34,398,593.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Juniper Networks news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $1,440,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,435 shares in the company, valued at $1,059,660. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.86, for a total value of $193,647.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 986,764 shares in the company, valued at $34,398,593.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 145,889 shares of company stock valued at $5,243,973 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 116.2% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 473,058 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $17,248,000 after acquiring an additional 254,301 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.5% in the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 109,324 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,986,000 after acquiring an additional 3,700 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,157,579 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $115,125,000 after acquiring an additional 114,795 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 6.9% in the second quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 1,155,201 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,119,000 after acquiring an additional 74,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the second quarter valued at $58,000. 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.