Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Short Interest Update

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,620,000 shares, a decline of 6.2% from the March 15th total of 13,460,000 shares. Approximately 3.9% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 5,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE JNPR traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $36.42. The company had a trading volume of 2,363,339 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,031,727. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.80. Juniper Networks has a 1-year low of $24.87 and a 1-year high of $38.04. The company has a market cap of $11.81 billion, a PE ratio of 38.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.51 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.00 and a 200-day moving average of $32.38.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is currently 92.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on JNPR shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised Juniper Networks from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $34.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $205,071.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 840,518 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,023,519.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $205,071.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 840,518 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,023,519.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602 over the last quarter. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 8.7% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 31,014 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,476 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. purchased a new position in Juniper Networks in the first quarter valued at about $1,036,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 23.0% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 88,358 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $3,283,000 after buying an additional 16,513 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 6.6% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 43,510 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,617,000 after buying an additional 2,694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new position in Juniper Networks in the first quarter valued at about $3,756,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company's stock.

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.