Symmetry Partners LLC Buys Shares of 5,691 Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Symmetry Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,691 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of JNPR. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $80,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 298.3% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 38,524 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 28,852 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 40,250 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 7,836 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $5,896,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,126,775 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,212,417,000 after acquiring an additional 137,652 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:JNPR traded up $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $35.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,528,727 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,040,245. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.99. The company has a market capitalization of $11.55 billion, a PE ratio of 51.54, a P/E/G ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.74. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.87 and a fifty-two week high of $38.04.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 4.19%. As a group, research analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Juniper Networks news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total value of $517,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,435 shares in the company, valued at $2,393,424.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.49, for a total transaction of $197,146.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 970,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,428,813.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total transaction of $517,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,393,424.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 48,330 shares of company stock worth $1,708,320. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNPR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Argus upgraded Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.00.

Juniper Networks 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.