Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Receives $39.50 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.50.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on JNPR. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Juniper Networks in a report on Monday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Barclays cut their target price on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday, September 23rd.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE JNPR opened at $38.33 on Thursday. Juniper Networks has a 52-week low of $34.30 and a 52-week high of $39.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.31 and a 200-day moving average of $37.90. The company has a market capitalization of $12.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.43, a P/E/G ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.72.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 115.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sather Financial Group Inc raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 17.6% during the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 259,786 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,126,000 after acquiring an additional 38,936 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,957,317 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $115,276,000 after buying an additional 33,016 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 1,885.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 497,430 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $19,390,000 after buying an additional 472,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,758,844 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $614,280,000 after buying an additional 574,418 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.