Axa S.A. Sells 115,319 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

AXA S.A. reduced its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 92.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,419 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 115,319 shares during the period. AXA S.A.'s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $262,618,000. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $477,593,000 after buying an additional 2,167,567 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $159,510,000 after buying an additional 1,559,884 shares during the last quarter. Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $43,413,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,525,290 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $244,372,000 after buying an additional 987,431 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of 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. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $40.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.37% of the company's stock.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

JNPR stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $36.40. 2,392,259 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,250,806. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.59. 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 company has a market cap of $12.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.33, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.42 and a 1-year high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.02. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. Juniper Networks's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.81%.

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.