Short Interest in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Drops By 15.1%

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,290,000 shares, a drop of 15.1% from the February 28th total of 8,590,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,820,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days. Approximately 2.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Juniper Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Juniper Networks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus lowered shares of Juniper Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.80.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 1.9 %

JNPR stock traded down $0.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $35.38. 1,830,264 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,257,308. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.46. Juniper Networks has a 1-year low of $33.72 and a 1-year high of $39.79. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.35. The firm has a market cap of $11.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.86.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued 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 return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 5.67%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is presently 102.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total value of $1,115,827.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 94,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,413,651.42. This represents a 24.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Juniper Networks

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of JNPR. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 30.1% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,224 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Juniper Networks by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,413 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Juniper Networks by 47.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in Juniper Networks by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 6,182 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC lifted its position in Juniper Networks by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 8,420 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $315,000 after buying an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.95% 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.