Avanza Fonder AB Invests $1.35 Million in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 36,031 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,349,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.3% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its position in Juniper Networks by 71.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,546 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 644 shares in the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks in the third quarter valued at about $61,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 84.7% in the third quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the third quarter worth about $76,000. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on JNPR shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.25.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $38.47 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.02. The stock has a market cap of $12.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.61, a PEG ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 0.88. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.30 and a 12 month high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 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.