Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Makes New Investment in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 83,598 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,131,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Gould Capital LLC grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 1.9% in the third quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 29,298 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Juniper Networks by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,913 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 47,639 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,857,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNPR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $36.10 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.98, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.72 and a 1-year high of $39.79. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.60 and a 200-day moving average of $37.53.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued 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 net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the 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 directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.