Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Given Neutral Rating at Rosenblatt Securities

Rosenblatt Securities restated their neutral rating on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $40.00 price objective on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of JNPR stock opened at $36.64 on Friday. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $33.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The company has a market capitalization of $12.25 billion, a PE ratio of 42.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $35.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 30.1% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,224 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 91.9% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 39.6% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,364 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently 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.