Northern Trust Corp Boosts Stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 21.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,643,049 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 646,742 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.10% of Juniper Networks worth $136,432,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of JNPR. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 210,338 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $8,153,000 after purchasing an additional 35,337 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 5.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 446,529 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $17,406,000 after purchasing an additional 21,651 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,522 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,056 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $229,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised 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. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on JNPR. Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. Five 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, Juniper Networks presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $40.00.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

JNPR stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $36.37. The company had a trading volume of 722,396 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,221,880. 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $35.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.69. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.42 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The firm has a market cap of $12.16 billion, a PE ratio of 42.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.22 dividend. 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 2.42%. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is 83.81%.

Insider Activity

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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.