Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Trims Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,614 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 806 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 139.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 84.7% during the third quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Juniper Networks during the third quarter worth about $76,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on JNPR. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.10 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.60 and a 200-day moving average of $37.53. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.72 and a 52-week high of $39.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.33%.

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.