Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $39.80.

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 139.5% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 84.7% during the 3rd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR opened at $36.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.02 billion, a PE ratio of 41.94, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.50 and its 200 day moving average is $37.49. Juniper Networks has a fifty-two week low of $33.72 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is 102.33%.

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.