UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Acquires 311,836 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,941,105 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 311,836 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned 1.19% of Juniper Networks worth $147,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $21,268,000. Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,976 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $336,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 2,195.3% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 342,000 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $12,808,000 after acquiring an additional 327,100 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 229,878 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $8,609,000 after acquiring an additional 56,468 shares during the period. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $602,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.37% of the company's stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE JNPR traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $36.06. The company had a trading volume of 1,895,534 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,271,279. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.42 and a 1-year high of $39.79. The firm's 50 day moving average is $35.62 and its 200-day moving average is $36.39.

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

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is currently 83.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. 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. 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 note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Juniper Networks Company 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.