Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Reaches New 52-Week High at $39.04

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) shares hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $39.04 and last traded at $39.03, with a volume of 811940 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.82.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.3 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $37.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.60. 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 firm has a market cap of $12.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 0.95.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share 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 company 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 business posted $0.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 127.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 56,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,049,588.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 value of $197,146.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 970,099 shares in the company, valued at $34,428,813.51. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 28,669 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.53, for a total value of $1,047,278.57. Following the completion of 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 119,779 shares of company stock valued at $4,339,795. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 2,069.4% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 781 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.