Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Raises Stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 45,499 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,377 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,704,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.3% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $61,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its position in Juniper Networks by 84.7% in the third quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the third quarter worth about $76,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 89.0% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,922 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 1,376 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Barclays boosted 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, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.8 %

JNPR stock opened at $36.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.85, a PEG ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.72 and a twelve month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced 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 return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

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.