AXS Investments LLC Sells 1,415 Shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

AXS Investments LLC lessened its stake in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) by 14.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,225 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,415 shares during the period. AXS Investments LLC’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in JNPR. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 51.3% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 90.9% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on JNPR shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Sunday, May 19th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.55.

Insider Activity at Juniper Networks

In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total transaction of $207,923.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,008,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,747,368.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Juniper Networks news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total value of $207,923.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,008,479 shares in the company, valued at $37,747,368.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Bradley Miller sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total transaction of $517,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 69,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,393,424.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,330 shares of company stock valued at $1,732,206 over the last ninety days. 1.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Juniper Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:JNPR opened at $34.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a PE ratio of 50.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.05 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.03. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $24.87 and a one year high of $38.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.74.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The network equipment provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.02%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.08 EPS for the current year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is 127.54%.

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.