Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 397,279 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,878,000. Juniper Networks comprises about 1.0% of Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Juniper Networks as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank increased its position 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 worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 139.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 41.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 616 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of JNPR stock opened at $34.71 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $35.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.42 and a 12 month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.33%.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on JNPR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. 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 research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

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.