Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 787,861 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 40.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,158,162 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 787,861 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.36% of Juniper Networks worth $36,284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,812,549 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,405,114,000 after purchasing an additional 463,356 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 34,426,578 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,184,963,000 after acquiring an additional 2,776,885 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 98,625.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 23,598,372 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $739,337,000 after acquiring an additional 23,574,469 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,799,343 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $509,389,000 after acquiring an additional 473,661 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 10,361,222 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $356,633,000 after acquiring an additional 609,945 shares during the period. 87.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR opened at $26.99 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $26.98 and a 200 day moving average of $28.66. The company has a market capitalization of $8.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.93. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.87 and a 1-year high of $34.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The network equipment provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.02. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 6.48%. The company had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.39 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 1st will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 30th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 78.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on JNPR. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Juniper Networks from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 27th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Juniper Networks from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 28th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Juniper Networks from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Juniper Networks from $34.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, Director Anne Delsanto sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.22, for a total value of $26,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 28,343 shares in the company, valued at $828,182.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Juniper Networks news, Director Anne Delsanto sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.22, for a total value of $26,298.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 28,343 shares in the company, valued at $828,182.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.68, for a total value of $148,234.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 896,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,907,361.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,924 shares of company stock worth $1,091,136. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.