Westchester Capital Management LLC Has $48.07 Million Stock Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Westchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR - Free Report) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,283,645 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 85,883 shares during the period. Juniper Networks makes up approximately 2.6% of Westchester Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Westchester Capital Management LLC owned 0.39% of Juniper Networks worth $48,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,264,855 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,620,269,000 after buying an additional 599,214 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $477,593,000 after acquiring an additional 2,167,567 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,897,002 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $370,461,000 after acquiring an additional 356,672 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $262,618,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,525,290 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $244,372,000 after acquiring an additional 987,431 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of JNPR traded up $0.13 on Wednesday, hitting $36.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,132,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,213,389. The company has a market capitalization of $12.09 billion, a PE ratio of 42.07, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.42 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.77.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR - Get Free Report) last posted 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks's payout ratio is 102.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Juniper Networks 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.