Planned Solutions Inc. Invests $74,000 in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $74,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 74.1% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 92.1% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 974 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. West Tower Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $57,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 2,224.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,976 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,891 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Juniper Networks stock opened at $37.28 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $12.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.59 and a beta of 0.98. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.87 and a 12 month high of $38.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.06 and its 200-day moving average is $31.49.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 11.72%. Equities analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 92.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $3,645,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at $2,726,308. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,496 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total value of $199,779.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,888 shares in the company, valued at $1,122,778.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $3,645,610.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 221,800 shares of company stock valued at $8,122,949. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on JNPR. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.58.

About Juniper Networks

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.