KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Invests $4.46 Million in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 119,069 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,459,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 139.5% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $76,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 41.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on JNPR. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays increased 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

JNPR opened at $36.11 on Wednesday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.45. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.72 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The company has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a PE ratio of 41.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its earnings results 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%. Research analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders 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 presently 102.33%.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

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 stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks 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.