Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Stock Holdings Boosted by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 913,047 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,990 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.28% of Juniper Networks worth $34,194,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 163.0% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 99,748 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,734,000 after acquiring an additional 61,815 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 41,375 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,551,000 after acquiring an additional 7,712 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 1,387,382 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $51,957,000 after acquiring an additional 232,181 shares during the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 20,413 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 80,213 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,004,000 after acquiring an additional 9,719 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $36.17 on Wednesday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.72 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market capitalization of $11.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.06, a PEG ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNPR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Five research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

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.