Wealthfront Advisers LLC Buys 98,772 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 1,776.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,333 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,772 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $3,907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.3% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 139.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 84.7% during the third quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 41.5% during 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 during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $1,115,827.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 94,771 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,651.42. This trade represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

JNPR opened at $35.57 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $36.81 and its 200 day moving average is $37.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market cap of $11.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.35, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.72 and a 12-month 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 102.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on JNPR. Evercore ISI upgraded 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, February 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Argus downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Profile

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.