Prudential PLC increased its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR – Free Report) by 71.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,087 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,164 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,414,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $95,829,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Juniper Networks by 995.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,716,433 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,972,000 after acquiring an additional 2,468,496 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Juniper Networks by 131.1% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,073,056 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $130,175,000 after acquiring an additional 2,310,476 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Juniper Networks by 1,803.4% during the 1st quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,647,874 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $56,720,000 after acquiring an additional 1,561,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc grew its position in Juniper Networks by 227.6% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 1,718,992 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $54,939,000 after acquiring an additional 1,194,259 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.79% of the company’s stock.
Juniper Networks Stock Performance
JNPR opened at $29.31 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.48. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.18 and a 1 year high of $34.53. The company has a market capitalization of $9.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.25.
Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The network equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 12.85% and a net margin of 7.27%. Equities analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Juniper Networks Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 1st will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 31st. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.40%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities research analysts recently commented on JNPR shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Juniper Networks from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Juniper Networks from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Juniper Networks from $41.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.38.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.92, for a total transaction of $187,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 912,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,309,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.92, for a total transaction of $187,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 912,746 shares in the company, valued at $27,309,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Anne Delsanto sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.98, for a total value of $25,182.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 29,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $818,219.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,950 shares of company stock valued at $680,719 over the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
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.