72,000 Shares in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Purchased by Intact Investment Management Inc.

Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 72,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,123,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 15.6% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,091 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the third quarter valued at about $230,000. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.5% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 56,167 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after purchasing an additional 18,096 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the third quarter valued at about $749,000. Finally, Bill Few Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the third quarter valued at about $1,185,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.7 %

JNPR traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.71. 4,677,184 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,295,185. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.87 and a 1 year high of $38.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $36.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.83. The firm has a market cap of $11.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.07%. 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 will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 127.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,326,323.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.53, for a total transaction of $208,479.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,019,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,265,175.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were 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 $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on JNPR shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued 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. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.