Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd Acquires New Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd bought a new stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,159,220 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $43,413,000. Juniper Networks comprises approximately 5.2% of Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 47.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 139.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 616 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE JNPR opened at $35.56 on Friday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.42 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $35.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.89 billion, a PE ratio of 41.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

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.