Norges Bank Takes $262.62 Million Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,012,502 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $262,618,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Gould Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.9% in the third quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 29,298 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Juniper Networks by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,913 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 47,639 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,857,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.2 %

JNPR opened at $36.10 on Friday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.72 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.41. The firm has a market cap of $12.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on JNPR. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays lifted their target price on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Juniper Networks presently has an average 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.