Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $8.22 Million Investment in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 219,397 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,216,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.07% of Juniper Networks at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of JNPR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $262,618,000. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $477,593,000 after purchasing an additional 2,167,567 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $159,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,559,884 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,525,290 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $244,372,000 after purchasing an additional 987,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 69.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,710,771 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $64,068,000 after purchasing an additional 700,111 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Monday, reaching $35.79. 1,391,525 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,224,580. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $35.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Juniper Networks's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on JNPR shares. Barclays raised their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut Juniper Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Juniper Networks has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.