Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning.

JNPR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. 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 note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Argus cut Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of JNPR opened at $36.10 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $12.03 billion, a PE ratio of 41.97, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. Juniper Networks has a 1 year low of $33.72 and a 1 year high of $39.79.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,413 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $652,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 47.8% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 6,182 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 8,420 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gould Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.9% during the third quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 29,298 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,142,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is 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.