Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,297 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $752,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 4.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 46,266 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after buying an additional 2,134 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,821,292 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,172,000 after purchasing an additional 54,735 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 2,096.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 452,455 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,212,000 after purchasing an additional 431,855 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 71.8% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 324,954 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,030,000 after purchasing an additional 135,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 43.9% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 520,932 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,357,000 after purchasing an additional 158,913 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of JNPR opened at $34.55 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $11.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.07, a PEG ratio of 8.71 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $35.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.87 and a 12 month high of $38.04.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.09). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 4.19%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. On average, research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 127.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNPR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Juniper Networks in a report on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.55.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total value of $517,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,393,424.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total value of $517,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 69,435 shares in the company, valued at $2,393,424.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 48,330 shares of company stock valued at $1,732,206. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.