Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $33.72 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The company has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.97, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.41.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. On average, analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after buying an additional 7,668 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,374,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,394 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,182,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,758,844 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $614,280,000 after purchasing an additional 574,418 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.