Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Stock analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a research note issued on Thursday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on JNPR. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.7 %

Juniper Networks stock opened at $34.71 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.28 billion, a PE ratio of 36.54, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day moving average is $36.79 and its 200-day moving average is $32.78. Juniper Networks has a fifty-two week low of $24.87 and a fifty-two week high of $38.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $3,645,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 73,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.10, for a total value of $206,127.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 829,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,770,962.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $3,645,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its position in Juniper Networks by 51.3% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Juniper Networks by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in Juniper Networks by 90.9% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

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.