Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,660,000 shares, a decrease of 24.8% from the May 15th total of 10,180,000 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,680,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $35.86. 1,887,274 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,257,893. The company has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.78. Juniper Networks has a fifty-two week low of $33.42 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.31.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 6.78%. The business's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is 83.81%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 101,761 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $3,683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107 shares during the last quarter. DLD Asset Management LP boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 524.6% in the first quarter. DLD Asset Management LP now owns 67,596 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,446,000 after acquiring an additional 56,773 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 1st quarter worth $1,593,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 1st quarter worth $120,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,176,582 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $151,150,000 after acquiring an additional 235,477 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $40.00.

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.