Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Thursday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on JNPR. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of JNPR opened at $36.07 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.02 billion, a PE ratio of 41.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks has a 52-week low of $33.72 and a 52-week high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) 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 fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% during the fourth 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 139.5% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 84.7% during the third quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by 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.