BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Takes Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 7,445 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,264,855 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,620,269,000 after buying an additional 599,214 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.5% in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,897,002 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $370,461,000 after acquiring an additional 356,672 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $262,618,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 17.8% during the 4th 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on JNPR. 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 report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JNPR traded up $0.28 on Wednesday, hitting $36.33. The stock had a trading volume of 4,059,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,228,431. The company has a market capitalization of $12.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $35.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) 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 net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is 102.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

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.