Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Sold by Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda

Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda reduced its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 56.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,526 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 7,276 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda's holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,264,855 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,620,269,000 after acquiring an additional 599,214 shares during the period. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $477,593,000 after purchasing an additional 2,167,567 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,897,002 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $370,461,000 after purchasing an additional 356,672 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $262,618,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,525,290 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $244,372,000 after buying an additional 987,431 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.8 %

Juniper Networks stock traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $36.64. The company had a trading volume of 3,747,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,231,720. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.42 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.52 and a 200 day moving average of $36.74. The stock has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.60, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. The company's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on JNPR shares. Evercore ISI upgraded 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. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday. StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays raised 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.