Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Purchased by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV boosted its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 32.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,559,587 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 378,265 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $58,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.3% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 84.7% during the third quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks during the third quarter worth about $76,000. Finally, Quarry LP raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 89.0% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,922 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.4 %

Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.03 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.93 billion, a PE ratio of 41.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.72 and a 12-month high of $39.79.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNPR has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI upgraded 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 note on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Juniper Networks has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

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.