Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 290,786 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lessened its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 8.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,035,001 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 290,786 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.93% of Juniper Networks worth $110,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 745 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on JNPR. 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 report on Tuesday, June 18th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday. Barclays cut 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. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday, September 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.67.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR opened at $38.87 on Tuesday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.87 and a fifty-two week high of $39.13. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $38.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.77. The stock has a market cap of $12.63 billion, a PE ratio of 56.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.93.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 28,669 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.53, for a total transaction of $1,047,278.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 56,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,049,588.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 108,669 shares of company stock valued at $3,947,279 over the last 90 days. 1.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.