Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Grows Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,761 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,789 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the first quarter valued at about $86,494,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $23,379,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,230,251 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $390,028,000 after purchasing an additional 495,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 1,524.4% during the first quarter. Natixis now owns 470,137 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $17,423,000 after purchasing an additional 441,194 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In related news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total value of $1,440,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,059,660. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 108,669 shares of company stock valued at $3,947,279. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $38.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.87 and a 52-week high of $39.13. The company has a market capitalization of $12.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.38, a P/E/G ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $38.33 and a 200 day moving average of $36.76.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNPR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Argus upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.25.

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.