Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Argus cut Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Juniper Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:JNPR opened at $35.95 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.01 and a 200 day moving average of $37.75. The company has a market cap of $11.98 billion, a PE ratio of 41.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87. 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 has a 12-month low of $33.72 and a 12-month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $602,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $9,019,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $1,872,000. Alpine Global Management LLC grew its position in Juniper Networks by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC now owns 151,564 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,676,000 after acquiring an additional 51,564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Juniper Networks by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,941,105 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $147,594,000 after acquiring an additional 311,836 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% 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.