Equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) in a research report issued on Thursday, The Fly reports. The firm set a “hold” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.
JNPR has been the topic of a number of other reports. BidaskClub lowered Juniper Networks from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 17th. UBS decreased their price target on Juniper Networks from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird restated a “hold” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Thursday, November 30th. William Blair restated a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Juniper Networks from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.25.
Shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE JNPR) traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $28.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,180,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,244,833. The company has a current ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $23.87 and a 12-month high of $30.96. The firm has a market cap of $11,070.00, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.10.
In other news, Director Rahul N. Merchant bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.48 per share, for a total transaction of $48,960.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,543 shares in the company, valued at $551,852.64. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 16,100 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.24, for a total value of $422,464.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 469,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,322,487.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,434,820 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,071,564,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314,683 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 17,690,957 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $493,224,000 after purchasing an additional 74,877 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,764,160 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $355,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,386,036 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,215,837 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $200,817,000 after purchasing an additional 91,809 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Juniper Networks by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,784,158 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $188,804,000 after purchasing an additional 1,375,394 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.94% of the company’s stock.
About Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks, Inc designs, develops and sells products and services for high-performance networks to enable customers to build networks for their businesses. The Company sells its products in over 100 countries in three geographic regions: Americas; Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific.
