Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 811,726 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. decreased its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,839,821 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 811,726 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 1.46% of Juniper Networks worth $181,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted 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 worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 6,182 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 8,420 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,913 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $184,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

JNPR traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $36.62. The company had a trading volume of 506,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,235,809. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $35.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.61. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The company has a market capitalization of $12.24 billion, a PE ratio of 42.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is presently 83.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNPR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Juniper Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 value of $1,115,827.56. Following 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.37% of the company's stock.

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.