10,823 Shares in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Acquired by DLD Asset Management LP

DLD Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,823 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $405,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,017,000. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,955,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,897,002 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $370,461,000 after buying an additional 356,672 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 402,913 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,089,000 after acquiring an additional 192,575 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In related news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents 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. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on JNPR. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research 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 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE:JNPR opened at $36.14 on Wednesday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.72 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The stock has a market cap of $12.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.36. 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 announced 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

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

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.