Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Price Target Raised to $41.00 at Barclays

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) had its price objective upped by Barclays from $40.00 to $41.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a hold rating and set a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven 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 currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

JNPR stock opened at $34.71 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.78. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $24.87 and a 12-month high of $38.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.31, a PEG ratio of 7.29 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.07%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 127.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,326,323.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,326,323.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the company’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 transaction of $3,645,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $136,778,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Juniper Networks by 11,418.1% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,829,071 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,401,000 after acquiring an additional 2,804,509 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Juniper Networks by 276.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,257,447 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $34,944,000 after acquiring an additional 923,680 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the third quarter valued at $20,615,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in Juniper Networks by 487.6% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 845,795 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $23,505,000 after acquiring an additional 701,856 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Company 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.