Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Stake Boosted by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,614,022 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 69,711 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $47,581,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 90.9% during 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. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $74,000. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNPR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.53, for a total transaction of $208,479.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,019,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,265,175.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.53, for a total transaction of $208,479.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,019,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,265,175.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 221,856 shares of company stock valued at $8,187,658 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of JNPR opened at $34.84 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.57 and its 200-day moving average is $33.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.76 and a beta of 0.98. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $24.87 and a one year high of $38.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.74.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

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.