Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Short Interest Down 6.2% in March

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,620,000 shares, a decline of 6.2% from the March 15th total of 13,460,000 shares. Currently, 3.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 5,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Juniper Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JNPR traded down $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $36.43. The company had a trading volume of 2,346,839 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,031,727. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $37.01 and its 200 day moving average is $32.32. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $24.87 and a twelve month high of $38.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.82 billion, a PE ratio of 38.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.51 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $37,187,078.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $3,645,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at $2,726,308. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.06, for a total transaction of $205,868.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 worth $8,005,602 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 74.1% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 92.1% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JNPR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.27.

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.