Trexquant Investment LP Takes $3.96 Million Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 105,600 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,955,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 80.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 17,324 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 7,709 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 19.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 53,118 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,071,000 after buying an additional 8,577 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $224,000. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $210,000. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 10,810 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR opened at $33.94 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $35.93 and its 200-day moving average is $37.29. The company has a market cap of $11.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.46, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.72 and a 52-week high of $39.79.

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

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Barclays increased their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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.