Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP Takes Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 14,040 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $526,000.

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

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related 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 value of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNPR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of JNPR opened at $36.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.90, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.42 and a twelve month high of $39.79. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.59.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.81%.

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.