Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Short Interest Down 12.2% in January

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,760,000 shares, a drop of 12.2% from the January 15th total of 11,120,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,470,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 3.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.33 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $36.22. 3,549,397 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,817,377. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $33.72 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $37.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.12, a P/E/G ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.87.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on JNPR. Barclays raised their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

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.