Access Financial Services Inc. Raises Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Access Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 13.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 53,136 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,183 shares during the period. Access Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 74.1% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 92.1% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 974 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the period. West Tower Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the second quarter worth $57,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 2,224.7% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,976 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 1,891 shares in the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on JNPR shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.29, for a total value of $162,735.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 857,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,106,977.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,496 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total transaction of $199,779.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,122,778.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.29, for a total value of $162,735.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 857,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,106,977.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 221,800 shares of company stock worth $8,122,949 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE JNPR opened at $37.03 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $37.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.53. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.87 and a 12 month high of $38.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.98, a PEG ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 5.57%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 92.63%.

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.