Kentucky Retirement Systems Lowers Stock Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,620 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 311 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sather Financial Group Inc grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 259,786 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,126,000 after buying an additional 38,936 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 446,529 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $17,406,000 after buying an additional 21,651 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 25.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after buying an additional 7,668 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,957,317 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $115,276,000 after buying an additional 33,016 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $1,374,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR opened at $35.96 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.87. The stock has a market cap of $11.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.81, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.72 and a 1-year high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. On average, research analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNPR has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Juniper Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

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.