Investment Management Corp of Ontario Sells 1,700 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Investment Management Corp of Ontario cut its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 15.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,110 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $341,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 210,338 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $8,153,000 after buying an additional 35,337 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 446,529 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $17,406,000 after buying an additional 21,651 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,913 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $184,000 after buying an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 71,787 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,688,000 after buying an additional 4,733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 28.1% in the 4th quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 32,380 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,213,000 after buying an additional 7,097 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.5%

Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.40 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.59. The company has a market cap of $12.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.82. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.42 and a 52-week high of $39.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.02. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 83.81%.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Juniper Networks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.00.

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.