Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Receives Hold Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reiterated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on JNPR. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 11th. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

NYSE JNPR traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.71. 4,314,366 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,935,096. The company has a market cap of $11.28 billion, a PE ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Juniper Networks has a fifty-two week low of $24.87 and a fifty-two week high of $38.04. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $36.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.73.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 5.57%. Research analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.10, for a total value of $206,127.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 829,406 shares in the company, valued at $30,770,962.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.10, for a total value of $206,127.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 829,406 shares in the company, valued at $30,770,962.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total transaction of $190,262.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $136,778,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 11,418.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,829,071 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $83,401,000 after purchasing an additional 2,804,509 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 276.7% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,257,447 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $34,944,000 after purchasing an additional 923,680 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $20,615,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 487.6% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 845,795 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $23,505,000 after purchasing an additional 701,856 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% 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.