Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Now Covered by StockNews.com

Analysts at StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a report released on Thursday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued 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 research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.27.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 1.5 %

JNPR stock opened at $35.35 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $36.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.80. Juniper Networks has a fifty-two week low of $24.87 and a fifty-two week high of $38.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.21, a PEG ratio of 7.40 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released 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). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 5.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,726,308. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,726,308. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 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 ninety days, insiders sold 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 90.9% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% 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.