Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Lowered 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 research note released on Friday.

JNPR has been the subject of several other reports. Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their target price on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, 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 research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.2 %

JNPR stock opened at $36.10 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $33.72 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a PE ratio of 41.97, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted 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 return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. On average, equities analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 2.9% during the 3rd 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 period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 80.2% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 17,324 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 7,709 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 6.2% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 36,081 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,406,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 4.3% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 815,384 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,759,000 after acquiring an additional 33,305 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 150.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 35,821 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 21,538 shares in the last quarter. 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.