Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Buys 32,877 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 24.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 165,559 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 32,877 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.05% of Juniper Networks worth $6,200,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 139.5% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $71,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $76,000. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.07 on Monday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $36.50 and a 200 day moving average of $37.48. The company has a market capitalization of $12.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.72 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upgraded 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. Barclays boosted their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

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.