Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Juniper Networks has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.3 %

Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.22 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $36.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.43. Juniper Networks has a fifty-two week low of $33.72 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79. The stock has a market cap of $12.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.11, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share 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 research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was 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 owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in JNPR. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 7,668 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter worth $1,374,000. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,394 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,182,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,758,844 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $614,280,000 after purchasing an additional 574,418 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.