IFM Investors Pty Ltd Increases Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 82,559 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,873 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $3,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 745 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the first quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 71.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,546 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 644 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on JNPR shares. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday, September 16th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.00.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

JNPR stock opened at $39.08 on Monday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.87 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The company has a market cap of $12.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.64, a PEG ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $38.86 and a 200 day moving average of $37.11. 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 (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 4.58%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Juniper Networks’s quarterly revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

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.