Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Increases Stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 10.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,254 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,118 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $3,118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sather Financial Group Inc lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 259,786 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,126,000 after acquiring an additional 38,936 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 5.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 446,529 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $17,406,000 after purchasing an additional 21,651 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,957,317 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $115,276,000 after purchasing an additional 33,016 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 1,885.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 497,430 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $19,390,000 after purchasing an additional 472,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,758,844 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $614,280,000 after buying an additional 574,418 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on JNPR shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, November 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.25.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR opened at $38.59 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.06. The stock has a market cap of $12.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 0.88. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.30 and a twelve month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 115.79%.

Juniper Networks 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.