Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on JNPR. Argus upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:JNPR opened at $37.86 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $36.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.38. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $24.87 and a 12-month high of $38.06. The firm has a market cap of $12.46 billion, a PE ratio of 54.87, a PEG ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 4.58%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is presently 127.54%.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 28,669 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.53, for a total value of $1,047,278.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 56,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,049,588.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.17, for a total transaction of $195,369.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 981,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,509,120.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 28,669 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.53, for a total transaction of $1,047,278.57. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 56,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,049,588.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,779 shares of company stock valued at $4,856,845 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 633,850 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $23,110,000 after buying an additional 5,428 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 31.5% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 20,054 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $731,000 after buying an additional 4,806 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,852 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 26.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 44,018 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,605,000 after buying an additional 9,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,545 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,369,000 after buying an additional 2,113 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.