Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,760,000 shares, a decline of 12.2% from the January 15th total of 11,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,470,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days. Currently, 3.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE JNPR traded up $0.21 during trading on Monday, hitting $36.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,142,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,267,443. Juniper Networks has a 52 week low of $33.72 and a 52 week high of $39.79. The firm has a market cap of $12.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $37.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,941,105 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $147,594,000 after buying an additional 311,836 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $21,268,000. Vident Advisory LLC raised its position in Juniper Networks by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 8,976 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 2,195.3% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 342,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $12,808,000 after purchasing an additional 327,100 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 229,878 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $8,609,000 after purchasing an additional 56,468 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Five 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.