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

Cerity Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 37.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,925 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,672 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 334,148 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $12,514,000 after purchasing an additional 9,865 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 525,502 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $19,943,000 after purchasing an additional 38,164 shares in the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 16,292 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $610,000 after purchasing an additional 3,728 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $262,618,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 99,910 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,742,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of JNPR opened at $39.95 on Monday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.42 and a 1-year high of $39.96. The stock has a market cap of $13.36 billion, a PE ratio of 38.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.62.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.02. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 6.78% and a return on equity of 8.71%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. Juniper Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 83.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on JNPR. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.00.

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.