Juniper Networks Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:JNPR)

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 9,640 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 63% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,912 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 30.1% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,224 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 139.5% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $35.56. 981,602 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,231,940. Juniper Networks has a 52 week low of $33.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.81.

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

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

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.