New York State Teachers Retirement System Lowers Stock Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 299,085 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,011 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $10,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $136,778,000. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the first quarter worth $86,494,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 859.1% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 836,900 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,016,000 after purchasing an additional 749,641 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the first quarter worth $23,379,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,230,251 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $390,028,000 after purchasing an additional 495,037 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Juniper Networks in a report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays reduced their target price on Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Juniper Networks stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $38.80. 2,182,877 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,591,234. The company has a market capitalization of $12.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.23, a P/E/G ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.54. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.87 and a 1 year high of $39.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.69.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 4.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is presently 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Juniper Networks news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total value of $1,440,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 29,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,059,660. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.49, for a total value of $197,146.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 970,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,428,813.51. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,435 shares in the company, valued at $1,059,660. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 119,779 shares of company stock worth $4,339,795. 1.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.