Vestcor Inc Sells 3,011 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Vestcor Inc reduced its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 183,394 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,011 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $6,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JNPR. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 60.3% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the period. Gould Capital LLC boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.9% during the third quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 29,298 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,913 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $184,000 after buying an additional 549 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 47,639 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after buying an additional 580 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNPR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of JNPR stock opened at $35.61 on Thursday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $36.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.63. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.72 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The firm has a market cap of $11.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. Equities analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Juniper Networks Company 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.