Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Upgraded by Argus to Buy

Argus upgraded shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $40.00 target price on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $35.00.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.2 %

JNPR stock opened at $35.56 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $11.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.54, a PEG ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 0.96. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $24.87 and a twelve month high of $38.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.29 and a 200-day moving average of $34.99.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 4.19%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.08 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is 127.54%.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total transaction of $517,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,435 shares in the company, valued at $2,393,424.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total transaction of $517,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,435 shares in the company, valued at $2,393,424.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total value of $205,868.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,003,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,187,078.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 48,330 shares of company stock worth $1,708,320. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $136,778,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 11,418.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,829,071 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,401,000 after purchasing an additional 2,804,509 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $86,494,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 276.7% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,257,447 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $34,944,000 after purchasing an additional 923,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 859.1% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 836,900 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,016,000 after purchasing an additional 749,641 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

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.