Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Acquired by Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,474 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Oak Thistle LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 4.6% in the second quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 8,015 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,576 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 27,941 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,019,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,903 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. Finally, Keene & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.8% in the second quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. now owns 11,485 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total value of $1,460,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 124,776 shares in the company, valued at $4,554,324. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 108,669 shares of company stock worth $3,947,279 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on JNPR. Barclays dropped 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. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, July 26th. Argus raised Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

JNPR opened at $38.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $12.64 billion, a PE ratio of 56.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.29 and a 200-day moving average of $36.76. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.87 and a 52-week high of $39.13.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 4.58%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 127.54%.

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.