Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Rating Reiterated by Needham & Company LLC

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on JNPR. Morgan Stanley raised 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 research note on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Juniper Networks currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.27.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 1.2 %

Juniper Networks stock opened at $34.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $11.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.79, a PEG ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Juniper Networks has a 1 year low of $24.87 and a 1 year high of $38.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $36.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.73.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Juniper Networks

In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.10, for a total value of $206,127.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 829,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,770,962.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.10, for a total transaction of $206,127.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 829,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,770,962.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of Juniper Networks 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 approximately $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Juniper Networks by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,126,775 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,212,417,000 after acquiring an additional 137,652 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,230,251 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $390,028,000 after buying an additional 495,037 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 3.8% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,982,734 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $166,260,000 after buying an additional 219,860 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Juniper Networks by 9.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,709,064 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $158,655,000 after buying an additional 502,673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $136,778,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.