Bank of America Corp DE Sells 199,353 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Bank of America Corp DE decreased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 35.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 362,580 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 199,353 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $13,579,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Juniper Networks by 47.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 91.9% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 139.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE JNPR opened at $35.97 on Thursday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $12.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.82, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.49.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.02. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays upped their price target on Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks 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.