Blair William & Co. IL Acquires New Shares in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Blair William & Co. IL purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR – Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company’s most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 15,831 shares of the networking equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $587,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the networking equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Juniper Networks by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the networking equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the first quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s shares.

Juniper Networks shares down 0.2%

JNPR opened at $37.19 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $35.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.31. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.87 and a 52-week high of $38.04. The company has a market cap of $12.09 billion, a PE ratio of 53.90, a P/E/G ratio of 9.70 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25. The networking equipment provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.02%. As a group, research analysts expect Juniper Networks, Inc. to post 1.08 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date for this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. This represents an annualized dividend of $0.88 and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Juniper Networks’ dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 127.54%.

Wall Street analysts weigh in

JNPR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus raised Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.36.

Read our latest report on Juniper Networks

Insiders place their bets

In other Juniper Networks news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total transaction of $517,050.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,393,424.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, available via the SEC’s website. In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.83, for a total value of $193,480.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 997,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,755,951.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, available at this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total value of $517,050.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,393,424.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. During the last quarter, insiders sold 145,889 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,243,973. 1.28% of the shares are held by corporate insiders.

Juniper Networks Profile

(Free Report)

Juniper Networks, Inc. designs, develops, and sells networking products and services worldwide. The company offers routing products such as ACX series universal access routers to implement 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.