Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Purchased by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 26.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 640,329 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 132,981 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.19% of Juniper Networks worth $23,980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $262,618,000. FIL Ltd grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 60.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $159,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,559,884 shares in the last quarter. Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $43,413,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Juniper Networks by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,525,290 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $244,372,000 after acquiring an additional 987,431 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.5%

JNPR stock traded up $0.19 on Thursday, hitting $36.29. 673,076 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,246,610. The stock has a market cap of $12.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $35.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.59. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is currently 83.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on JNPR. Barclays boosted 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. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $40.00.

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.