Barclays Raises Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Price Target to $41.00

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) had its price objective hoisted by investment analysts at Barclays from $40.00 to $41.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 18.36% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday. StockNews.com began coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $34.64. 1,513,519 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,895,829. Juniper Networks has a 1 year low of $24.87 and a 1 year 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 has a market capitalization of $11.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.42, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $36.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.73.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released 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). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 5.57%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total value of $205,868.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,003,429 shares in the company, valued at $37,187,078.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total transaction of $205,868.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,003,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,187,078.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602. 1.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,576 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.5% in the third quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,075 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 8.2% in the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 4,968 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $138,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

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.