Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Receives $36.25 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.25.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Saturday, August 31st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Argus upgraded Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays reduced their target price on Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, July 26th.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 28,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.53, for a total value of $1,047,278.57. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 56,107 shares in the company, valued at $2,049,588.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 108,669 shares of company stock valued at $3,947,279. 1.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,126,775 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,212,417,000 after purchasing an additional 137,652 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,230,251 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $390,028,000 after buying an additional 495,037 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 14,314.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,832,105 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $176,179,000 after buying an additional 4,798,583 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $136,778,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,646,833 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $107,509,000 after acquiring an additional 219,410 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of JNPR stock opened at $38.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $12.55 billion, a PE ratio of 55.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.91 and its 200-day moving average is $36.65. Juniper Networks has a 1 year low of $24.87 and a 1 year high of $39.06.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 4.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Juniper Networks’s revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

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.