MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 1,090 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

MetLife Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 85,526 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,090 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $3,334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in JNPR. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 14,314.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,832,105 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $176,179,000 after acquiring an additional 4,798,583 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 172,681.3% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 552,900 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $21,552,000 after acquiring an additional 552,580 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $19,390,000 after acquiring an additional 472,370 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. now owns 2,676,064 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $104,313,000 after acquiring an additional 301,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 30.6% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 1,181,322 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $46,048,000 after acquiring an additional 276,891 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Monday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.50.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JNPR opened at $35.46 on Wednesday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.25 and a 1-year high of $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.74 billion, a PE ratio of 46.66, a PEG ratio of 11.24 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50 day moving average is $38.18 and its 200-day moving average is $37.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is presently 115.79%.

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.