Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Bought by DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 465.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,648 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,288 shares during the quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of JNPR. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 210,338 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $8,153,000 after buying an additional 35,337 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 5.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 446,529 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $17,406,000 after buying an additional 21,651 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,913 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $184,000 after buying an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 71,787 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,688,000 after purchasing an additional 4,733 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 28.1% in the fourth quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 32,380 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after purchasing an additional 7,097 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

JNPR opened at $36.33 on Monday. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.42 and a 52-week high of $39.79. The company has a 50 day moving average of $35.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.61. The company has a market cap of $12.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. Juniper Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 83.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on JNPR shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

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.