ING Groep NV Sells 59,467 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

ING Groep NV lowered its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 57.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,654 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 59,467 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of JNPR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,989,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,139,088,000 after acquiring an additional 325,418 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,982,734 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $166,260,000 after acquiring an additional 219,860 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,709,064 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $158,655,000 after acquiring an additional 502,673 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,047,880 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $112,491,000 after acquiring an additional 176,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,407,278 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $94,688,000 after buying an additional 181,174 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Juniper Networks news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total transaction of $517,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,393,424.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total transaction of $207,923.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,008,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,747,368.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,330 shares of company stock worth $1,732,206 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of JNPR opened at $34.55 on Wednesday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.87 and a 52 week high of $38.04. The firm has a market cap of $11.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.71 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.74.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.09). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is presently 127.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Company 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.