First Trust Advisors LP Cuts Stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

First Trust Advisors LP decreased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,322,006 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 52,832 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.70% of Juniper Networks worth $86,959,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 139.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 41.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on JNPR. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays increased their target price on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Argus cut Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $35.56. 981,602 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,231,940. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock's fifty day moving average is $35.50 and its 200 day moving average is $36.80. The firm has a market cap of $11.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.42 and a 1 year high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.33%.

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.