Yakira Capital Management Inc. Acquires 63,000 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Yakira Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 86.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 135,607 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,000 shares during the period. Juniper Networks comprises about 1.9% of Yakira Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Yakira Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $5,078,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $42,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

NYSE JNPR opened at $33.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.72 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The stock has a market cap of $11.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.46, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day moving average is $35.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.29.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced 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 return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their target price 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.