Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Cuts Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,800 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 29.7% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,471 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 1,482 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,929 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 2,140 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 162.2% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,111 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 2,543 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $213,000. Finally, Axecap Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,996,000. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of JNPR stock opened at $36.22 on Wednesday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.72 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The stock has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a PE ratio of 42.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.27 and its 200-day moving average is $37.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. Equities analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on JNPR shares. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Juniper Networks has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

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.