BNP Paribas Downgrades Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) to Neutral

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) was downgraded by equities research analysts at BNP Paribas from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Wednesday, FinViz reports. They currently have a $67.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $59.00. BNP Paribas’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 2.68% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday. Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.15.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $65.25 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.70. Ciena has a 12 month low of $39.94 and a 12 month high of $66.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.38 billion, a PE ratio of 62.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $502,953 over the last three months. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 119.9% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Ciena by 24.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $130,392,000 after acquiring an additional 523,313 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Ciena by 1,944.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $101,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,513 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 17.2% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $98,743,000 after acquiring an additional 301,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 7,767.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $94,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941,419 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company's Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.