Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.80.

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,413 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 6,182 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 60.3% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the period. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC increased its position in Juniper Networks by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 8,420 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $315,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of JNPR stock opened at $36.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.90. Juniper Networks has a 12 month low of $33.72 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.95 billion, a PE ratio of 41.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. Analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.33%.

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.