Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Cut to “Hold” at Argus

Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports.

JNPR has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.8 %

JNPR opened at $35.72 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.29 and a 200-day moving average of $38.00. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $33.72 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $11.82 billion, a PE ratio of 41.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.87.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sather Financial Group Inc raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 17.6% in the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 259,786 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,126,000 after buying an additional 38,936 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $17,406,000 after buying an additional 21,651 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 7,668 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.1% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 33,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $1,374,000. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

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.