Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Acquired by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 47.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 116,200 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,500 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $4,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of JNPR. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its position in Juniper Networks by 83.5% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 17,884 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $670,000 after acquiring an additional 8,138 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $204,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Juniper Networks by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 57,563 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,627 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in Juniper Networks by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 122,669 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,594,000 after purchasing an additional 11,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $5,225,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on JNPR. StockNews.com upgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays raised their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE JNPR opened at $35.99 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.72 and a 1-year high of $39.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.88.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. Equities analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 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.