Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Short Interest Update

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,080,000 shares, an increase of 24.6% from the March 15th total of 7,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,930,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 2.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $262,618,000. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 12,752,814 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $477,593,000 after acquiring an additional 2,167,567 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $159,510,000 after acquiring an additional 1,559,884 shares in the last quarter. Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $43,413,000. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its position in Juniper Networks by 70.1% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 2,811,005 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $105,272,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158,713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Argus cut Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JNPR traded down $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.34. 1,727,525 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,274,906. The company has a market cap of $11.44 billion, a PE ratio of 39.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.94. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $33.42 and a 12-month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. On average, analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

About Juniper Networks

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.