Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,238 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,252 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,919,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 84.7% in the third quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the third quarter worth $76,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 41.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 32.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,654 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 89.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,922 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:JNPR opened at $36.12 on Tuesday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.72 and a 12-month high of $39.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $36.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.56.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on JNPR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.28% 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.