Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Sold by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 27.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,597 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,727 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,264,855 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,620,269,000 after buying an additional 599,214 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,897,002 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $370,461,000 after acquiring an additional 356,672 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth $262,618,000. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $159,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,559,884 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,134,795 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $117,398,000 after purchasing an additional 40,231 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE JNPR opened at $34.04 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.42 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.59 and a 200-day moving average of $36.90. The stock has a market cap of $11.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. As a group, analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on JNPR. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Company 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.