Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Bought by IFM Investors Pty Ltd

IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 73,686 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 397 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $2,731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in JNPR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $136,778,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 11,418.1% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,829,071 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $83,401,000 after purchasing an additional 2,804,509 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 276.7% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,257,447 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $34,944,000 after purchasing an additional 923,680 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $20,615,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in Juniper Networks by 487.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 845,795 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $23,505,000 after purchasing an additional 701,856 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on JNPR. Barclays raised their price target on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.71. 4,677,184 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,295,185. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.87 and a fifty-two week high of $38.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $36.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.31, a P/E/G ratio of 7.29 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 10.07% and a net margin of 4.19%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 127.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Juniper Networks news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $3,645,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

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.