Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Earns “Hold” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays reissued an equal weight rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note 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 research note on Thursday, January 11th. KeyCorp restated a sector weight rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR opened at $34.71 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $11.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.30, a PEG ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.88.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted 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 return on equity of 10.07% and a net margin of 4.19%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 127.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,326,323.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $205,071.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 840,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,023,519.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have 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

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,576 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,075 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 4,968 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% 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.