The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Boosts Stock Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 203,828 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,497 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.06% of Juniper Networks worth $7,432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 2,069.4% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 781 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Juniper Networks during the first quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the first quarter worth about $55,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on JNPR. Argus raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.67.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $38.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.87 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The firm has a market cap of $12.62 billion, a PE ratio of 56.26, a PEG ratio of 11.28 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.90.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 4.58%. The business’s revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

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.