Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Argus

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) was upgraded by analysts at Argus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has a $40.00 target price on the network equipment provider’s stock. Argus’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 12.68% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on JNPR. StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.00.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

JNPR stock opened at $35.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.99. The stock has a market cap of $11.54 billion, a PE ratio of 51.45, a P/E/G ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 0.96. Juniper Networks has a one year low of $24.87 and a one year high of $38.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.02%. On average, analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Juniper Networks news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the firm’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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total value of $205,868.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,003,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,187,078.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $2,393,424.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,330 shares of company stock valued at $1,708,320 in the last 90 days. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,201 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $638,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,178,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,709,064 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $158,655,000 after buying an additional 502,673 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 1,218.3% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 6,789 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 6,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.