Brokerages Set Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) PT at $40.00

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $40.00.

JNPR has been the subject of several research reports. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, 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.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $36.33 on Wednesday. Juniper Networks has a 52-week low of $33.42 and a 52-week high of $39.79. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $35.57 and a 200-day moving average of $36.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.14 billion, a PE ratio of 42.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 83.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 30.1% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,224 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,915 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $612,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,413 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 11,140 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.