Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) COO Manoj Leelanivas Sells 30,978 Shares

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $35.98 on Friday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.72 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $37.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.82. The firm has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.84, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on JNPR shares. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JNPR. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,872,000. Alpine Global Management LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC now owns 151,564 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,676,000 after purchasing an additional 51,564 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,941,105 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $147,594,000 after purchasing an additional 311,836 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $21,268,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,976 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $336,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.