Ellsworth Advisors LLC Has $3.65 Million Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,751 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,368 shares during the quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $3,648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Access Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Access Financial Services Inc. now owns 53,136 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,566,000 after acquiring an additional 6,183 shares in the last quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,480 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $899,000 after purchasing an additional 2,610 shares during the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $74,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Juniper Networks by 202.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 983,911 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,006,000 after purchasing an additional 658,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invera Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,022,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JNPR traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $37.06. 3,922,621 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,133,983. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.80. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.06 and its two-hundred day simple 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 firm has a market capitalization of $11.93 billion, a PE ratio of 38.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 5.57%. Equities research analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is 92.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JNPR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Juniper Networks in a research report on Sunday, March 24th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.58.

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.