Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC Takes Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 8,604 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in JNPR. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 7,668 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,374,000. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,394 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $577,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 88,162 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $3,302,000 after acquiring an additional 9,548 shares during the period. Finally, Sather Financial Group Inc grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 302,731 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $11,337,000 after acquiring an additional 42,945 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. 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 research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Five investment 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $40.00.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.1%

JNPR traded up $0.02 on Friday, hitting $35.99. 1,783,762 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,269,905. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.42 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The company has a market cap of $12.03 billion, a PE ratio of 41.85, a PEG 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 stock's fifty day moving average is $35.62 and its 200-day moving average is $36.44.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. Juniper Networks's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is presently 83.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.