Raiffeisen Bank International AG Takes Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 15,000 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $560,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $1,872,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 73,256 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,743,000 after buying an additional 7,449 shares during the last quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $183,000. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 41,152 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,544,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $408,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on JNPR shares. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays increased their price target 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. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $40.00.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $35.91. The stock had a trading volume of 423,443 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,260,936. The stock has a market cap of $12.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.47. 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 12-month low of $33.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.81%.

Insider Activity

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 value 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 approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was 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 the SEC website. Insiders own 1.37% 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.