Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Stock Position Raised by Alaska Permanent Fund Corp

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,762 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,692 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $4,621,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 27,413 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $808,000 after buying an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,621 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 35,540 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,048,000 after buying an additional 2,453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,271 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 1,316 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on JNPR. Morgan Stanley upgraded Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.27.

Insider Activity

In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $205,071.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 840,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,023,519.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $205,071.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 840,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,023,519.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total transaction of $190,262.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:JNPR traded down $0.36 on Thursday, hitting $35.00. 521,828 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,889,497. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.87 and a 52 week high of $38.04. The company has a market cap of $11.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during 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, analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders 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 2.51%. 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.