4,639,683 Shares in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Purchased by Norges Bank

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 4,639,683 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $136,778,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.46% of Juniper Networks at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 26,715 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $742,000 after buying an additional 1,624 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 14,421 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 2,090 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,209,000. Capula Management Ltd acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $208,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,544,311 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $42,916,000 after acquiring an additional 611,967 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNPR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Juniper Networks in a research report on Sunday, May 19th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $34.59 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.05 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.93. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.87 and a fifty-two week high of $38.04.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 4.19%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 127.54%.

Insider Activity

In other Juniper Networks news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 is available through this link. In other news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $517,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,393,424.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.86, for a total value of $193,647.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 986,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,398,593.04. 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 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.28% 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.