Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

JNPR has been the topic of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Barclays upped their target price on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Juniper Networks from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $35.00.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE JNPR opened at $36.75 on Friday. 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 has a one year low of $24.87 and a one year high of $38.04. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $35.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.26, a PEG ratio of 9.50 and a beta of 0.95.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.02%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.08 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total transaction of $205,868.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,003,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,187,078.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total value of $1,440,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,059,660. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total transaction of $205,868.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,003,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,187,078.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 88,330 shares of company stock valued at $3,148,320 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 34.4% in 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 period. 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.