Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Short Interest Update

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

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.33 on Tuesday, hitting $36.22. The company had a trading volume of 3,549,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,817,377. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $37.27 and a 200-day moving average of $37.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $33.72 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.12, a P/E/G ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.87.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. Research analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 60.3% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake 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 worth $47,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on JNPR. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.80.

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.