Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Sold by Prudential PLC

Prudential PLC trimmed its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 93,125 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 9,065 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $3,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in JNPR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $262,618,000. Amundi grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,157,158 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $159,510,000 after buying an additional 1,559,884 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,337,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,264,855 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,620,269,000 after acquiring an additional 599,214 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 736.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 654,750 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $24,520,000 after acquiring an additional 576,461 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of JNPR opened at $33.94 on Friday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $33.72 and a one year high of $39.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.93 and its 200-day moving average is $37.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 EPS 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 anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on JNPR. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.80.

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.