Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Receives $34.55 Average PT from Analysts

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.55.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on JNPR shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, April 25th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley raised Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.2 %

Juniper Networks stock opened at $34.90 on Friday. Juniper Networks has a 52 week low of $24.87 and a 52 week high of $38.04. The company has a market capitalization of $11.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.33 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $36.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.74 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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $205,071.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 840,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,023,519.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $205,071.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 840,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,023,519.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, 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. Insiders sold a total of 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602 in the last three months. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 39.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 727,004 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $26,943,000 after acquiring an additional 206,072 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Juniper Networks by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,308 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,754,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $235,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Juniper Networks by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 437,732 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,222,000 after purchasing an additional 13,203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,799,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.