Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $39.50.

JNPR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday, September 23rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 2,069.4% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 781 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 745 shares during the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 60.3% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 71.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,546 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the third quarter valued at $61,000. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

JNPR opened at $37.45 on Thursday. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $29.13 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $12.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.28, a PEG ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.81.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 115.79%.

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.