Maryland State Retirement & Pension System bought a new stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR – Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 25,084 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $802,000.
Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the third quarter worth $31,000. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 455.5% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,311 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the second quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 18.9% during the third quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,962 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. 89.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several brokerages recently issued reports on JNPR. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday. Three equity research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.87.
Juniper Networks Stock Performance
NYSE:JNPR opened at $34.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.64, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day moving average is $31.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.55. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.18 and a 1-year high of $38.14.
Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The network equipment provider reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, calculating the consensus estimate of $0.65. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 10.91%. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.
Juniper Networks Increases Dividends
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 28th. This is an increase from Juniper Networks’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.11%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks
In other news, Director Anne Delsanto sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.64, for a total value of $27,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,536 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,703.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.28, for a total value of $195,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 937,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,312,143.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Anne Delsanto sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.64, for a total transaction of $27,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,536 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,703.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 61,878 shares of company stock valued at $1,918,822. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.
About Juniper Networks
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Juniper Networks, Inc. engages in the business of designing, developing, and selling products and services for high-performance networks to enable customers to build networks for their businesses while achieving agility and improved operating efficiency through automation. The firm also offers routing, switching, Wi-Fi, network security, artificial intelligence-enabled enterprise networking operations, and software-defined networking technologies.
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