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

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 its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,941,105 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 311,836 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned approximately 1.19% of Juniper Networks worth $147,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 7,668 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,374,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position 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 valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in Juniper Networks by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 88,162 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $3,302,000 after acquiring an additional 9,548 shares during the period. Finally, Sather Financial Group Inc increased its position in Juniper Networks by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 302,731 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $11,337,000 after acquiring an additional 42,945 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. 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. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

NYSE JNPR traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $35.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 467,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,260,883. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.42 and a 1-year high of $39.79. 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 company's 50-day moving average is $35.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.38.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

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