Access Financial Services Inc. Grows Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Access Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,136 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,183 shares during the quarter. Access Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in JNPR. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Juniper Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Juniper Networks by 74.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 92.1% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 974 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. West Tower Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $57,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 2,224.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,976 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,891 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on JNPR. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a report on Sunday, March 24th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Juniper Networks currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.58.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $3,645,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at $2,726,308. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $3,645,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,496 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total value of $199,779.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,888 shares in the company, valued at $1,122,778.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 221,800 shares of company stock worth $8,122,949. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.7 %

JNPR opened at $37.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $11.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.98, a P/E/G ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $37.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.53. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $24.87 and a one year high of $38.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.80.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 11.72%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 92.63%.

Juniper Networks 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.