Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Raises Position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp grew its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 156,762 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,692 shares during the quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $4,621,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC raised its position in Juniper Networks by 15.6% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,091 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Juniper Networks during the third quarter worth approximately $230,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 74.1% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 7.1% during the third quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 76,153 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,116,000 after buying an additional 5,044 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 56,167 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,561,000 after purchasing an additional 18,096 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNPR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.27.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

JNPR stock traded down $0.36 on Thursday, reaching $35.00. 521,828 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,889,497. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $36.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.35 billion, a PE ratio of 36.86, a PEG ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 5.57%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm 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 yield of 2.51%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 92.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total transaction of $205,868.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,003,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,187,078.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at $1,326,323.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total value of $205,868.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,003,429 shares in the company, valued at $37,187,078.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602 in the last quarter. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Juniper Networks Company 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.