Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Sold by Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 52.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 159,948 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 177,412 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. owned about 0.05% of Juniper Networks worth $4,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth $95,829,000. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 8.8% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 34,426,578 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,184,963,000 after buying an additional 2,776,885 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 10.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,412,994 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $514,219,000 after buying an additional 1,613,651 shares during the period. Man Group plc boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 227.6% during the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 1,718,992 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $54,939,000 after buying an additional 1,194,259 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 144.6% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,840,995 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $63,367,000 after buying an additional 1,088,393 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total transaction of $205,868.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,003,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,187,078.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Juniper Networks news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,326,323.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total transaction of $205,868.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,003,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $37,187,078.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 221,798 shares of company stock valued at $8,205,381 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company's stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.3 %

JNPR stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $37.07. The company had a trading volume of 2,000,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,226,228. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.87 and a 52 week high of $38.04. The company has a market cap of $12.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.02, a PEG ratio of 7.57 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.02 and a 200 day moving average of $31.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

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

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.