Capital Fund Management S.A. Increases Stock Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Capital Fund Management S.A. grew its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,343 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Capital Fund Management S.A.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after buying an additional 7,668 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $1,374,000. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 4.5% during the fourth 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. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 88,162 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,302,000 after purchasing an additional 9,548 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 5.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 446,529 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $17,406,000 after purchasing an additional 21,651 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a 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 for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $34.51 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.02. The company has a market capitalization of $11.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. 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 $33.42 and a 1 year high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks 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.