Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Short Interest Update

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,180,000 shares, a growth of 24.8% from the January 31st total of 9,760,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,730,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.2 %

JNPR stock traded down $0.07 on Friday, reaching $36.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,178,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,178,955. The firm has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a PE ratio of 41.86, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.74. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $33.72 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is 102.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JNPR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in JNPR. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 60.3% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the third quarter worth $61,000. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.