Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the six analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $40.00.

A number of research firms recently commented on JNPR. Barclays upped their price objective on Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, May 2nd.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded up $0.11 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $36.46. 173,396 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,235,377. The stock has a market cap of $12.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.36, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $33.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.61.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is 83.81%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.37% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JNPR. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Juniper Networks by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 210,338 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $8,153,000 after buying an additional 35,337 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 5.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 446,529 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $17,406,000 after acquiring an additional 21,651 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,522 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,913 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $184,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.