Magnetar Financial LLC Decreases Stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Magnetar Financial LLC lessened its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,158,010 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 205,670 shares during the period. Juniper Networks makes up approximately 1.9% of Magnetar Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $80,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 8.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 55,936 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,180,000 after purchasing an additional 4,143 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 38.6% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 27,799 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,084,000 after purchasing an additional 7,745 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 964,400 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $37,592,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 576.3% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 11,084 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 9,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 2.9% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 38,488 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,500,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $36.10 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.53. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.72 and a 1-year high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on JNPR. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Insider Activity

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. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

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.