Advisors Asset Management Inc. Lowers Stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,335 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 362 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $3,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Carlson Capital L P purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $13,612,000. Shell Asset Management Co. increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 14.0% during the first quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 59,652 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,211,000 after purchasing an additional 7,340 shares in the last quarter. Natixis lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 1,524.4% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 470,137 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $17,423,000 after purchasing an additional 441,194 shares during the last quarter. American International Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 84,154 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,119,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 37.1% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,369 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total transaction of $517,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 69,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,393,424.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.86, for a total transaction of $193,647.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 986,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,398,593.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total value of $517,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 have sold 145,889 shares of company stock valued at $5,243,973 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

JNPR traded down $0.24 on Friday, reaching $37.25. The stock had a trading volume of 2,418,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,733,063. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.87 and a 12-month high of $38.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $12.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $35.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.32.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced 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 return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 4.19%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on JNPR. Barclays decreased their price target on Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday. Finally, Argus raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Ten investment 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.27.

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.