Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Sells 747,675 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lowered its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 99.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,545 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 747,675 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,126,775 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,212,417,000 after purchasing an additional 137,652 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,230,251 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $390,028,000 after buying an additional 495,037 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $136,778,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,646,833 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $107,509,000 after buying an additional 219,410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,821,292 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,172,000 after acquiring an additional 54,735 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNPR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus raised Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JNPR opened at $38.87 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $37.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.54. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.87 and a twelve month high of $39.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.63 billion, a PE ratio of 56.33, a P/E/G ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 0.95.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 4.58%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.49, for a total value of $197,146.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 970,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,428,813.51. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.49, for a total value of $197,146.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 970,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,428,813.51. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 28,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.53, for a total transaction of $1,047,278.57. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 56,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,049,588.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 119,779 shares of company stock valued at $4,339,795. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

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.