Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Shares Bought by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,499 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,377 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Sather Financial Group Inc boosted its stake in Juniper Networks by 17.6% in the third quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 259,786 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,126,000 after acquiring an additional 38,936 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 446,529 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $17,406,000 after purchasing an additional 21,651 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 25.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,696 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 7,668 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,957,317 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $115,276,000 after buying an additional 33,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter worth $1,374,000. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Up 0.8 %

Juniper Networks stock opened at $36.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.87. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.72 and a 1 year high of $39.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JNPR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Argus downgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.