Short Interest in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Declines By 9.4%

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) saw a large drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,920,000 shares, a drop of 9.4% from the October 15th total of 10,950,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days. Currently, 3.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 2,069.4% in the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 781 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 745 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the second quarter worth about $36,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.3% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP grew its position in Juniper Networks by 71.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,546 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 644 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on JNPR. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays reduced their price target on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, July 26th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday, September 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.50.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

JNPR traded down $0.91 during trading on Monday, hitting $35.61. The stock had a trading volume of 13,354,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,733,742. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.42. Juniper Networks has a 12 month low of $26.66 and a 12 month high of $39.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $11.79 billion, a PE ratio of 46.85, a P/E/G ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 0.93.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 115.79%.

About Juniper Networks

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.