Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $3.74 Million Stock Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,910 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $3,742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $262,618,000. Amundi grew its position in Juniper Networks by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $159,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,559,884 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,337,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,264,855 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,620,269,000 after purchasing an additional 599,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position 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 buying an additional 574,418 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

JNPR stock opened at $36.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $36.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.36. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.72 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The company has a market capitalization of $12.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on JNPR shares. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays increased 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, 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.