Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $1.66 Million Stock Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lowered its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 43.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 56,387 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 42,545 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,662,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Juniper Networks by 8.7% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 31,014 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,476 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,036,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 23.0% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 88,358 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,283,000 after purchasing an additional 16,513 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 6.6% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 43,510 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,694 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new stake in Juniper Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,756,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price 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. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.27.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.70 billion, a PE ratio of 37.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.47 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $36.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.49. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $24.87 and a one year high of $38.04.

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

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given 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 92.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Juniper Networks news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total transaction of $190,262.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Juniper Networks news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of Juniper Networks 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $3,645,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602. Corporate 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.