Barclays Cuts Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Price Target to $40.00

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) had its price target cut by Barclays from $41.00 to $40.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

JNPR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Argus upgraded Juniper Networks from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. They issued a hold rating for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $36.25.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:JNPR opened at $37.64 on Friday. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $24.87 and a 12-month high of $38.04. The stock has a market cap of $12.23 billion, a PE ratio of 54.55, a P/E/G ratio of 9.70 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50 day moving average of $36.05 and a 200-day moving average of $36.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 4.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Juniper Networks will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 127.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.86, for a total transaction of $193,647.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 986,764 shares in the company, valued at $34,398,593.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Juniper Networks news, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total transaction of $517,050.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 69,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,393,424.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.86, for a total transaction of $193,647.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 986,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,398,593.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 145,889 shares of company stock worth $5,243,973 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of JNPR. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the second quarter worth $31,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% 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.