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

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,080,000 shares, an increase of 24.6% from the March 15th total of 7,290,000 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,930,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks 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 transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 7,668 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,374,000. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 4.5% during 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 last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 88,162 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $3,302,000 after purchasing an additional 9,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 446,529 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $17,406,000 after buying an additional 21,651 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $35.52. 132,861 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,646,017. Juniper Networks has a 1 year low of $33.42 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The firm has a market cap of $11.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. 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 $35.51 and its 200 day moving average is $36.85.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.