Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Sold by Slotnik Capital LLC

Slotnik Capital LLC reduced its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 223,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 7,000 shares during the quarter. Juniper Networks makes up 3.8% of Slotnik Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Slotnik Capital LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $8,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DLD Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $405,000. Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 91.9% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $1,017,000. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,955,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,897,002 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $370,461,000 after buying an additional 356,672 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:JNPR opened at $36.08 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.35. The company has a market capitalization of $12.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.72 and a 52-week high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its 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 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.28% 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.