Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR – Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.
Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on JNPR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Juniper Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Monday, October 9th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Juniper Networks from $34.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Juniper Networks from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday, October 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.00.
Juniper Networks Stock Performance
JNPR stock opened at $28.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.20 billion, a PE ratio of 25.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $26.90 and a 200-day moving average of $28.55. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $24.87 and a 12-month high of $34.53.
Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The network equipment provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.39 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 6.48%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.68, for a total value of $148,234.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,078 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,907,361.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.68, for a total value of $148,234.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,078 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,907,361.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Anne Delsanto sold 900 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.37, for a total transaction of $25,533.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $727,491.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 51,036 shares of company stock worth $1,410,841 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks
Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 98,625.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 23,598,372 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $739,337,000 after acquiring an additional 23,574,469 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $95,829,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 34,426,578 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,184,963,000 after acquiring an additional 2,776,885 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 995.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,716,433 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,972,000 after acquiring an additional 2,468,496 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,412,994 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $514,219,000 after acquiring an additional 1,613,651 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.79% of the company’s stock.
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.