Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Hits New 52-Week High at $39.08

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $39.08 and last traded at $39.05, with a volume of 244136 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $38.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Argus raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.1 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $12.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $38.22 and its 200 day moving average is $36.73.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.58% and a return on equity of 8.02%. Juniper Networks’s revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In related news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total value of $1,460,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 124,776 shares in the company, valued at $4,554,324. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 108,669 shares of company stock worth $3,947,279. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 2,069.4% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 781 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 745 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Juniper Networks during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the second quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the first quarter valued at about $43,000. 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.