Swedbank AB Reduces Stock Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Swedbank AB decreased its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 1.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 70,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,185 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $2,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 2,069.4% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 781 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Juniper Networks in the second quarter worth $31,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $55,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of JNPR stock opened at $39.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.87 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.26 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a fifty day moving average of $38.82 and a 200 day moving average of $37.04.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 4.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. Juniper Networks’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research 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 was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 127.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JNPR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday, September 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Nine 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.63.

Juniper Networks 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.