Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Receives $39.80 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.80.

Several research firms recently commented on JNPR. Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of JNPR opened at $35.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.88. Juniper Networks has a 1 year low of $33.72 and a 1 year high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 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, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $262,618,000. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $477,593,000 after purchasing an additional 2,167,567 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $159,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,559,884 shares during the period. Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $43,413,000. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 70.1% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 2,811,005 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $105,272,000 after acquiring an additional 1,158,713 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.