34,000 Shares in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Bought by Mint Tower Capital Management B.V.

Mint Tower Capital Management B.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 34,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,273,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 7,668 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,374,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,394 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $577,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the third quarter worth about $1,182,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in Juniper Networks by 3.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,758,844 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $614,280,000 after acquiring an additional 574,418 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.08 on Thursday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.72 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79. 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 stock has a market cap of $12.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $36.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.44.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. The trade was a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

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.