Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 777 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,852 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 777 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the second quarter worth $31,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 1st quarter worth about $43,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 57.9% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,568 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on JNPR shares. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Argus raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE JNPR opened at $38.40 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.66. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.87 and a 52-week high of $39.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.65, a P/E/G ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 0.93.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.58% and a return on equity of 8.02%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is presently 127.54%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In related news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total value of $1,440,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,059,660. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 108,669 shares of company stock worth $3,947,279. 1.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.