Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 7,920 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 119,477 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 7,920 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $4,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position 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 last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its position in Juniper Networks by 91.9% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in Juniper Networks by 139.5% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Juniper Networks by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JNPR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Five equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of JNPR traded down $0.04 on Friday, reaching $35.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,476,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,254,937. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.76, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $35.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.34. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. The firm's revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

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

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.