Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Purchased by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 150.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 488,761 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 293,294 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.15% of Juniper Networks worth $18,304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,412,000 after buying an additional 7,668 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $1,374,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Juniper Networks by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,394 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $577,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake 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 valued at $3,302,000 after purchasing an additional 9,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on JNPR. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of JNPR stock traded up $0.06 on Friday, reaching $35.59. 271,632 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,648,259. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $35.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.86 billion, a PE ratio of 41.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.