Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Downgraded to “Buy” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on JNPR. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of JNPR stock opened at $36.10 on Friday. Juniper Networks has a 52-week low of $33.72 and a 52-week high of $39.79. The stock has a market cap of $12.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.97, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $36.26 and its 200-day moving average is $37.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,672 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 1,852 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 596,479 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $22,338,000 after acquiring an additional 81,075 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,130 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $602,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,019,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.