Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 324 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Securian Asset Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 324 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 139.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 84.7% during the 3rd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $76,000. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE JNPR opened at $35.71 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $11.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.58. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.72 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Argus cut Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

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.