Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Sells 108,640 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lowered its position in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 60.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,392 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 108,640 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $2,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 4.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 46,266 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,286,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 2,096.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 452,455 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $13,212,000 after purchasing an additional 431,855 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 71.8% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 324,954 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,030,000 after purchasing an additional 135,823 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 37.2% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,657,664 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $46,066,000 after purchasing an additional 449,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 487.6% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 845,795 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $23,505,000 after purchasing an additional 701,856 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNPR has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Juniper Networks has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.27.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of JNPR opened at $35.90 on Wednesday. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.87 and a 12 month high of $38.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $11.65 billion, a PE ratio of 37.79, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 0.98.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 11.72%. Equities research analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the 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 directly owns 1,003,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,187,078.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the 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 $1,326,323.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Juniper Networks 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.