Signaturefd LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 18.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,271 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,316 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $244,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hartford Financial Management Inc. grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 51.3% during the 4th 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. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position 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 worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $74,000. Finally, Buck Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 466.4% during the third quarter. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 2,402 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $3,645,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 73,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602 over the last three months. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on JNPR. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. 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. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday. Eleven 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 stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Juniper Networks stock opened at $34.71 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $11.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $36.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.78. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.87 and a 1 year high of $38.04.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 11.72%. On average, research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 92.63%.

Juniper Networks 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.