Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Boosts Holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 10th, 2023

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR – Get Rating) by 58.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,767 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 27,820 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $1,979,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 455.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,311 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in Juniper Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Juniper Networks by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,962 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Juniper Networks news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 2,678 shares of Juniper Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.50, for a total transaction of $84,357.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $689,818.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 2,678 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.50, for a total transaction of $84,357.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $689,818.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.59, for a total transaction of $191,187.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 776,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,745,028.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 61,878 shares of company stock valued at $1,918,822 over the last three months. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of JNPR opened at $31.06 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $31.50 and its 200 day moving average is $30.21. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.18 and a fifty-two week high of $38.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.06 billion, a PE ratio of 21.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.74.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 31st. The network equipment provider reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.65. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 10.91%. Juniper Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. This is a positive change from Juniper Networks’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 28th. Juniper Networks’s payout ratio is presently 61.11%.

Juniper Networks Company Profile

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Juniper Networks, Inc engages in the business of designing, developing, and selling products and services for high-performance networks to enable customers to build networks for their businesses while achieving agility and improved operating efficiency through automation. The firm also offers routing, switching, Wi-Fi, network security, artificial intelligence-enabled enterprise networking operations, and software-defined networking technologies.