Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 36.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,439 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,306 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $2,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.3% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Gould Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.9% in the third quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 29,298 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,142,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,913 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $184,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 47,639 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,447 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

NYSE JNPR opened at $35.98 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a PE ratio of 41.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $37.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.82. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.72 and a 12-month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JNPR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

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.