MRP Capital Investments LLC Takes Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

MRP Capital Investments LLC bought a new position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 5,910 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in Juniper Networks by 65.7% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 1,110 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 34,302 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 10,758 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $136,778,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 203.8% during the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 16,371 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $483,000 after acquiring an additional 10,983 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:JNPR opened at $38.98 on Thursday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.87 and a 12 month high of $39.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $38.22 and its 200 day moving average is $36.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.67 billion, a PE ratio of 56.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.93.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.58% and a return on equity of 8.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is presently 127.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $1,440,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,059,660. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 108,669 shares of company stock worth $3,947,279 over the last quarter. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on JNPR. Argus raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, 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 report on Friday, July 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.25.

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.