Allstate Corp Acquires New Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 7,377 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 80.2% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 17,324 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $675,000 after acquiring an additional 7,709 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 53,118 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,071,000 after purchasing an additional 8,577 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the third quarter valued at about $224,000. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the third quarter worth about $210,000. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 580 shares during the period. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

NYSE JNPR opened at $36.08 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $12.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.72 and a fifty-two week high of $39.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $36.11 and a 200-day moving average of $37.35.

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 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 (DPR) is currently 102.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus lowered Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.