Ellsworth Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 123,751 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,368 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $3,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 92.1% in the second 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. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 74.1% during the third 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 during the period. West Tower Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $57,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 1,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNPR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on Juniper Networks in a report on Sunday, March 24th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.58.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE JNPR traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $37.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,922,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,133,983. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The company has a market cap of $11.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.53. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.87 and a 12 month high of $38.04.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). The company 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total transaction of $207,923.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,008,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,747,368.97. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total transaction of $207,923.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,008,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,747,368.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the 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 directly owns 73,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,726,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 221,800 shares of company stock worth $8,122,949. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

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.