Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Stock Price

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) had its target price boosted by Barclays from $37.00 to $39.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on JNPR. StockNews.com raised Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. 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 note on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.07 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.46, a P/E/G ratio of 7.70 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $37.30 and its 200 day moving average is $38.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Juniper Networks has a one year low of $33.72 and a one year high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 4.97%. As a group, research analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.3% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 84.7% during the 3rd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the third quarter worth approximately $76,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 41.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.