Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Reaches New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $60.00 to $63.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Ciena traded as high as $67.55 and last traded at $67.24, with a volume of 825577 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $65.25.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.92.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 119.9% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,054,000 after buying an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of 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 shares of Ciena by 1,944.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $101,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,513 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 301,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Ciena by 7,767.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $94,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941,419 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Up 3.0 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a PE ratio of 62.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $55.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.70.

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

Ciena announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ciena Company Profile

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.