Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Acquires 239,315 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 56.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 664,913 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 239,315 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.21% of Juniper Networks worth $19,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 46,266 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,286,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 2,096.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 452,455 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $13,212,000 after acquiring an additional 431,855 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 71.8% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 324,954 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $9,030,000 after acquiring an additional 135,823 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 112.1% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 181,032 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $5,031,000 after purchasing an additional 95,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,657,664 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $46,066,000 after purchasing an additional 449,575 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and set a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted 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, Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.27.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

NYSE:JNPR traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $36.53. The stock had a trading volume of 2,459,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,069,442. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.32. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $24.87 and a one year high of $38.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.45, a P/E/G ratio of 7.51 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is currently 92.63%.

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.