Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Receives “Hold” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on JNPR. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated a hold rating and set a $40.00 target price (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays restated an equal weight rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Juniper Networks has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of JNPR opened at $34.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.28 billion, a PE ratio of 50.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.29 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s fifty day moving average is $36.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.78. Juniper Networks has a fifty-two week low of $24.87 and a fifty-two week high of $38.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.07%. Analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total transaction of $190,262.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $205,071.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 840,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,023,519.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,126,775 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,212,417,000 after purchasing an additional 137,652 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,230,251 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $390,028,000 after buying an additional 495,037 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,982,734 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $166,260,000 after buying an additional 219,860 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,709,064 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $158,655,000 after buying an additional 502,673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $136,778,000. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

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.