Prudential Financial Inc. Has $6.70 Million Stock Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 178,778 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 18,720 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $6,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 139.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,654 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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 research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Juniper Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

NYSE JNPR opened at $36.10 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.40. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.72 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a PE ratio of 41.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. Research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. 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 payout ratio is 102.33%.

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.