Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Short Interest Down 6.2% in March

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,620,000 shares, a decline of 6.2% from the March 15th total of 13,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Approximately 3.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total transaction of $205,868.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,003,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,187,078.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 92.1% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 974 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the period. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 74.1% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on JNPR. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.27.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.1 %

JNPR stock opened at $36.48 on Thursday. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $24.87 and a twelve month 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $36.98 and its 200-day moving average is $32.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a PE ratio of 38.40, a P/E/G ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 11.72%. Sell-side analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.63%.

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.