iA Global Asset Management Inc. Has $1.38 Million Stock Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,836 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,852 shares during the quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,380,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 165,559 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,200,000 after purchasing an additional 32,877 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $3,131,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,761 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 52,174 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 7,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 209.3% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 85,977 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,220,000 after purchasing an additional 58,178 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on JNPR. StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.3 %

JNPR stock opened at $36.07 on Friday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.72 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.50. The company has a market cap of $12.02 billion, a PE ratio of 41.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks 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.