Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) Short Interest Up 11.2% in December

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,630,000 shares, a growth of 11.2% from the December 15th total of 11,360,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,600,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 3.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Juniper Networks Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of JNPR stock traded down $0.38 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $38.47. The stock had a trading volume of 4,434,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,920,985. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $37.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.74 billion, a PE ratio of 50.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 0.88. Juniper Networks has a 52-week low of $34.30 and a 52-week high of $39.79.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.79%.

Institutional Trading of Juniper Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNPR. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Juniper Networks by 7.9% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 422 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Juniper Networks by 60.3% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,188 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.0% in the second quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 47,997 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,750,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its stake in Juniper Networks by 1.7% in the second quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 29,764 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Gould Capital LLC raised its holdings in Juniper Networks by 1.9% in the third quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 29,298 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on JNPR shares. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Juniper Networks from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Juniper Networks in a report on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.25.

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.