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

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

Juniper Networks Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:JNPR opened at $36.48 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 0.98. Juniper Networks has a twelve month low of $24.87 and a twelve month high of $38.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $36.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 5.57%. Equities research analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on JNPR. Morgan Stanley raised Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Juniper Networks news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total transaction 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 SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,003,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,187,078.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total value of $190,262.94. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in JNPR. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 467 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.