Synergy Asset Management LLC Has $2.85 Million Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Synergy Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 22.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 96,616 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 27,712 shares during the quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC's holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $2,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 31,014 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,476 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $1,036,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 23.0% during the 1st 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 boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 43,510 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $3,756,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on JNPR shares. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $3,645,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.96, for a total value of $166,457.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 846,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,348,377.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $3,645,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,726,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 221,800 shares of company stock worth $8,122,949 in the last quarter. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $37.06. 3,922,621 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,048,051. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $37.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.63. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.87 and a 52-week high of $38.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $11.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.59 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 5.57%. On average, equities analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is 92.63%.

Juniper Networks 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.