Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 27,400 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 23.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 88,800 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 27,400 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $3,214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 65,903 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,385,000 after acquiring an additional 754 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Kwmg LLC grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 162,466 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,880,000 after buying an additional 2,745 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 76,046 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,752,000 after buying an additional 4,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 676,064 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $24,467,000 after buying an additional 64,469 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $35.94. 1,843,631 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,263,379. The firm has a market cap of $12.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.22, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $35.76 and a 200 day moving average of $36.31. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.28 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 6.78%. The company's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is 83.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $40.00.

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.