Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on JNPR. Morgan Stanley upgraded Juniper Networks from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a hold rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. KeyCorp reiterated a sector weight rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays restated an equal weight rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven 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, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $35.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.42 billion, a PE ratio of 50.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 0.98. Juniper Networks has a 52 week low of $24.87 and a 52 week high of $38.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.94.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is presently 127.54%.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $3,645,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $3,645,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.10, for a total transaction of $206,127.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 829,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,770,962.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602 in the last quarter. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 15.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,091 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $230,000. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 47.5% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 56,167 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after acquiring an additional 18,096 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $749,000. Finally, Bill Few Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,185,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

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.