Comerica Bank Reduces Stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Comerica Bank cut its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 40,271 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,278 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,508,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 322,248 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $12,036,000 after purchasing an additional 10,975 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,643,049 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $136,432,000 after buying an additional 646,742 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL grew its position in Juniper Networks by 1,318.8% during the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 297,327 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $11,135,000 after buying an additional 276,371 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,580 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $43,413,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.33 on Friday. 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 one year low of $33.42 and a one year high of $39.79. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. Analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Juniper Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

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.