California State Teachers Retirement System Increases Stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 15.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 596,479 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 81,075 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.18% of Juniper Networks worth $22,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,413 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $652,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC increased 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 worth $232,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 8,420 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $315,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the period. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 41,152 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,544,000 after buying an additional 601 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on JNPR shares. Evercore ISI raised 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 note on Tuesday, February 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Five 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Juniper Networks stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Monday, reaching $35.86. The company had a trading volume of 798,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,245,252. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $35.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.32. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.42 and a 1-year high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a PE ratio of 41.72, 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.

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

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is currently 83.81%.

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.