Russell Investments Group Ltd. Raises Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,147,409 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 29,850 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.36% of Juniper Networks worth $33,829,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,075 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 4,968 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 40,842 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,135,000 after buying an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $34.90. 2,774,976 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,861,750. The company has a 50 day moving average of $36.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.01. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.87 and a fifty-two week high of $38.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $11.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.48, a P/E/G ratio of 7.33 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 4.19%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio is 127.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on JNPR. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, April 26th. 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 research report on Thursday, January 11th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.55.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,003,429 shares in the company, valued at $37,187,078.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was 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. Insiders sold a total of 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.29% 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.