Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) COO Manoj Leelanivas Sells 30,978 Shares

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

JNPR opened at $36.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.05, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.72 and a 1-year high of $39.79. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,019,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $1,872,000. Alpine Global Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 51.6% during the fourth quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC now owns 151,564 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,676,000 after acquiring an additional 51,564 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 8.6% during the fourth 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 worth $147,594,000 after acquiring an additional 311,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $21,268,000. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong 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 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.