Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Stock Position Cut by Securian Asset Management Inc.

Securian Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,145 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,875 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 45.7% in the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 34,302 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 10,758 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 65.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 1,110 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $441,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 46,742 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,378,000 after buying an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 326,049 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,788,000 after buying an additional 12,803 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,393,424.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,393,424.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,330 shares of company stock valued at $1,732,206 over the last ninety days. 1.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.4 %

JNPR opened at $34.69 on Thursday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.87 and a 1-year high of $38.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.27, a P/E/G ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average of $35.90 and a 200-day moving average of $33.93.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.09). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is 127.54%.

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.