Victory Capital Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 240,521 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 55,696 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.07% of Juniper Networks worth $8,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of JNPR. Eisler Capital UK Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth $816,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Juniper Networks by 2,772.3% in the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 457,074 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $16,939,000 after buying an additional 441,161 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted 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 acquiring an additional 29,905 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $4,945,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $3,416,000 after acquiring an additional 69,615 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 28,669 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.53, for a total value of $1,047,278.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 56,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,049,588.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 108,669 shares of company stock valued at $3,947,279 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

JNPR opened at $38.60 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.94, a PEG ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $38.14 and a 200 day moving average of $36.71. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.87 and a fifty-two week high of $39.06.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.58% and a return on equity of 8.02%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 127.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays cut their price objective 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. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.25.

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.