Machina Capital S.A.S. Trims Stock Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Machina Capital S.A.S. lowered its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,386 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,314 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $454,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its position in Juniper Networks by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Juniper Networks by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in Juniper Networks by 90.9% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth $74,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:JNPR traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $34.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,633,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,770,281. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.87 and a twelve month high of $38.04. The stock has a market cap of $11.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.49, a P/E/G ratio of 8.76 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 127.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.10, for a total transaction of $206,127.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 829,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,770,962.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the business’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 owns 73,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 221,856 shares of company stock worth $8,187,658. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on JNPR. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.55.

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.