Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.63.

A number of equities analysts have commented on JNPR shares. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays decreased their target price on Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:JNPR opened at $39.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.04. Juniper Networks has a 1 year low of $24.87 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.74 billion, a PE ratio of 56.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.26 and a beta of 0.93.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.58% and a return on equity of 8.02%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 0.97 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,126,775 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,212,417,000 after acquiring an additional 137,652 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 14,314.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,832,105 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $176,179,000 after purchasing an additional 4,798,583 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,157,579 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $115,125,000 after buying an additional 114,795 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. increased its position in Juniper Networks by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. now owns 2,374,164 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $86,562,000 after buying an additional 197,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the first quarter valued at about $86,494,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.