Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,590,000 shares, a decrease of 29.5% from the February 13th total of 12,180,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,690,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth $262,618,000. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $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% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $159,510,000 after buying an additional 1,559,884 shares in the last quarter. Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $43,413,000. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 70.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,158,713 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of JNPR traded up $0.15 on Friday, reaching $35.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,932,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,108,827. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.52, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.59. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $33.72 and a 12-month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. Research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

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.