Allianz Asset Management GmbH Buys 31,667 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,319,851 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,667 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $49,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,929 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after buying an additional 2,140 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 162.2% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,111 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $150,000 after buying an additional 2,543 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $213,000. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 82,559 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,218,000 after buying an additional 8,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $219,000. 91.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of JNPR opened at $35.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.84, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $37.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.89. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.72 and a 52 week high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The network equipment provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.13). Juniper Networks had a net margin of 5.67% and a return on equity of 7.57%. On average, analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Juniper Networks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on JNPR. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Argus cut shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

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.