Farther Finance Advisors LLC Trims Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 46.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 911 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 805 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $34,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in 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 valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Gould Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.9% in the third quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 29,298 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,142,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,913 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $184,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 47,639 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 41.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.10 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.72 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $36.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted 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%. Research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on JNPR shares. Barclays upped their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.80.

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.