SG Americas Securities LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

SG Americas Securities LLC lowered its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 73.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,012 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 167,436 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $2,136,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.2% during the first 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 purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $213,000. Kwmg LLC grew its position in Juniper Networks by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 162,466 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,880,000 after purchasing an additional 2,745 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 76,046 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,752,000 after purchasing an additional 4,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 10.5% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 676,064 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $24,467,000 after buying an additional 64,469 shares during 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 up $0.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $35.94. 979,946 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,254,480. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.42 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $35.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.78.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 6.78%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. The company's revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on JNPR shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays increased their target price 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 restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average 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.