Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Boosts Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 43.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 97,861 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 29,422 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $3,542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,394 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $577,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,795 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,926,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 163,764 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $5,927,000 after purchasing an additional 6,426 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 3,022.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 172,409 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $6,239,000 after purchasing an additional 166,887 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 8.4%

JNPR traded up $3.10 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $39.92. The company had a trading volume of 13,205,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,302,453. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.42 and a 52 week high of $40.01. The company has a market capitalization of $13.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.01, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.78. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $36.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 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 analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is currently 83.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JNPR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Juniper Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $40.00.

About Juniper Networks

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.