Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $36.25.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased 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 research note on Friday, July 26th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Argus upgraded 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. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. They set a “hold” rating on the stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $38.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $24.87 and a twelve month high of $39.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.67 billion, a PE ratio of 56.49, a P/E/G ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $37.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.59.

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

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.17, for a total value of $195,369.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 981,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,509,120.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.17, for a total transaction of $195,369.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 981,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,509,120.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 56,107 shares in the company, valued at $2,049,588.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 119,779 shares of company stock valued at $4,339,795 over the last three months. 1.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 14,314.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,832,105 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $176,179,000 after purchasing an additional 4,798,583 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $136,778,000. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Juniper Networks in the first quarter valued at $86,494,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 859.1% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 836,900 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,016,000 after purchasing an additional 749,641 shares during the period. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $23,379,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.