Swiss National Bank Cuts Stock Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Swiss National Bank lowered its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 929,900 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 34,500 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.28% of Juniper Networks worth $34,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 86.7% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,206 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 4,739 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 37,503 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,404,000 after buying an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 1,776.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 104,333 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,907,000 after buying an additional 98,772 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $35.71 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.72 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.58. The stock has a market cap of $11.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.52, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In related news, 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 value of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on JNPR. Barclays boosted their target price 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. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.