Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Acquired by Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 17,413 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $262,618,000. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $477,593,000 after acquiring an additional 2,167,567 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $159,510,000 after acquiring an additional 1,559,884 shares in the last quarter. Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $43,413,000. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 70.1% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 2,811,005 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $105,272,000 after acquiring an additional 1,158,713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays increased their target price 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. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Five investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $36.03 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $35.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.42 and a 1-year high of $39.79. The company has a market cap of $12.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. Juniper Networks’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 83.81%.

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.