Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Reaches New 1-Year High at $39.08

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $39.08 and last traded at $39.05, with a volume of 244136 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $38.63.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on JNPR. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a report on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Argus upgraded 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $12.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.72.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its earnings results 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). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.58% and a return on equity of 8.02%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is presently 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total transaction of $1,460,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 124,776 shares in the company, valued at $4,554,324. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 108,669 shares of company stock worth $3,947,279 in the last three months. 1.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Eisler Capital UK Ltd. purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $816,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Juniper Networks by 2,772.3% during the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 457,074 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $16,939,000 after acquiring an additional 441,161 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 178,219 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,254,000 after purchasing an additional 29,905 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $4,945,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 150.5% during the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 115,886 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,416,000 after purchasing an additional 69,615 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.