D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Buys Shares of 845,780 Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 845,780 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $31,674,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.26% of Juniper Networks as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 6,182 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 8,420 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 12.6% in the 4th 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. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 1.0%

JNPR traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $36.03. 3,454,201 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,256,767. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $33.42 and a one year high of $39.79. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $12.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.90, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $35.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.59.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is currently 83.81%.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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 available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNPR has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average 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.