Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Has $2.30 Million Stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise trimmed its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 4.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 62,993 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,737 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $2,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $1,212,417,000 after buying an additional 137,652 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 495,037 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $136,778,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,646,833 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $107,509,000 after purchasing an additional 219,410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,157,579 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $115,125,000 after purchasing an additional 114,795 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on JNPR shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Argus upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE JNPR traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $38.88. 3,276,232 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,546,427. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.35, a P/E/G ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.60. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.87 and a twelve month high of $39.06.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 4.58%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In related 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 970,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,428,813.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.49, for a total value of $197,146.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 970,099 shares in the company, valued at $34,428,813.51. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 28,669 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 56,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,049,588.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 119,779 shares of company stock valued at $4,339,795 in the last ninety days. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.