Hsbc Holdings PLC Boosts Stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,911,855 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 240,385 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.59% of Juniper Networks worth $69,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $136,778,000. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in Juniper Networks during the first quarter valued at about $86,494,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in 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 valued at $31,016,000 after buying an additional 749,641 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the first quarter worth about $23,379,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,230,251 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $390,028,000 after acquiring an additional 495,037 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Argus upgraded Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays reduced 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. Nine research 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

JNPR stock opened at $38.96 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $38.26 and a 200-day moving average of $36.74. 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 has a market capitalization of $12.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.93. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.87 and a 12 month high of $39.13.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.58% and a return on equity of 8.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total value of $1,460,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 124,776 shares in the company, valued at $4,554,324. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 108,669 shares of company stock worth $3,947,279. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.