Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Announces $0.22 Quarterly Dividend

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.22 per share by the network equipment provider on Monday, June 24th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd.

Juniper Networks has raised its dividend by an average of 3.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 2 years. Juniper Networks has a payout ratio of 35.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Juniper Networks to earn $1.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.3%.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Juniper Networks stock traded down $0.24 on Friday, reaching $34.71. 4,677,184 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,295,185. The company has a market capitalization of $11.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.29 and a beta of 0.98. Juniper Networks has a 52 week low of $24.87 and a 52 week high of $38.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $36.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.80.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 10.07% and a net margin of 4.19%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on JNPR shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Juniper Networks from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com started coverage on Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Juniper Networks has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.55.

Insider Transactions at Juniper Networks

In other news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.10, for a total transaction of $206,127.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 829,406 shares in the company, valued at $30,770,962.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Rami Rahim sold 5,556 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.10, for a total transaction of $206,127.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 829,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,770,962.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 79,267 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.97, for a total value of $2,930,500.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,337 shares in the company, valued at $2,563,388.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 216,302 shares of company stock valued at $8,005,602. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Juniper Networks

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.