Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,600,000 shares, a growth of 10.9% from the May 31st total of 10,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,710,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.3 days. Currently, 3.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $36.35. 680,195 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,948,942. Juniper Networks has a 52-week low of $24.87 and a 52-week high of $38.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.50 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.15 and a 200-day moving average of $35.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,003,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,187,078.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total transaction of $205,868.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,003,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,187,078.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total value of $517,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,393,424.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 82,775 shares of company stock valued at $2,942,563 in the last three months. 1.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in JNPR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 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 period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Juniper Networks by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,230,251 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $390,028,000 after purchasing an additional 495,037 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Juniper Networks by 3.8% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,982,734 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $166,260,000 after purchasing an additional 219,860 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $136,778,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 4.6% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,047,880 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $112,491,000 after acquiring an additional 176,253 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on JNPR. Argus raised Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.00.

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.