Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.00.

A number of research firms have issued reports on JNPR. StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday. Argus lowered 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 issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.1 %

Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.61 on Wednesday. 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 firm's 50 day moving average price is $35.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.69. Juniper Networks has a 1 year low of $33.42 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The stock has a market cap of $12.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.57, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

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 $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.81%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Juniper Networks by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 30.1% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,224 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 39.6% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,364 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

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.

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