Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,013,762 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 38,888 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.63% of Juniper Networks worth $59,366,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. CWM LLC increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,621 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 35,540 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,048,000 after purchasing an additional 2,453 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,271 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in Juniper Networks by 90.9% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 59.8% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 170,509 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,027,000 after acquiring an additional 63,830 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total transaction of $190,262.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $3,645,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total transaction of $190,262.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602 in the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 11th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” 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 given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.27.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 1.2 %

JNPR opened at $34.95 on Friday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.87 and a 12 month 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. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.63%.

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.