Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Buys 3,177 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 73,723 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,177 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $2,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,989,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,139,088,000 after buying an additional 325,418 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 8.8% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 34,426,578 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,184,963,000 after purchasing an additional 2,776,885 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 10.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,412,994 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $514,219,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613,651 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,719,498 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $214,755,000 after purchasing an additional 344,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 9.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,709,064 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $158,655,000 after purchasing an additional 502,673 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $36.06 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.49. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.87 and a 1-year high of $38.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.96, a P/E/G ratio of 7.47 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.10, for a total transaction of $206,127.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 829,406 shares in the company, valued at $30,770,962.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.10, for a total transaction of $206,127.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 829,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,770,962.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total transaction of $190,262.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

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.