Truist Financial Corp Reduces Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Truist Financial Corp lowered its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,348 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 773 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $313,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Gould Capital LLC raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.9% during the third quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 29,298 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in 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 valued at $184,000 after buying an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 47,639 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,857,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 6.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,447 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $409,000 after acquiring an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks 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 directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on JNPR shares. Barclays lifted their target price 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 research report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Five 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

JNPR stock opened at $36.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.72 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The company has a market cap of $12.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $37.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.75.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

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

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.