Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR)

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 15,185 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 88% compared to the typical volume of 8,098 call options.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE JNPR traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $36.01. The company had a trading volume of 897,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,114,229. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $36.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.56. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $33.72 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The company has a market capitalization of $12.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.88, a PEG 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.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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, equities research analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 7,668 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,957,317 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $115,276,000 after acquiring an additional 33,016 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,374,000. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the third quarter valued at about $1,182,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,758,844 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $614,280,000 after purchasing an additional 574,418 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on JNPR shares. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

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.