Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Citigroup Analyst Says

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price objective boosted by equities researchers at Citigroup from $68.00 to $84.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 14.16% from the stock’s current price.

CIEN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. BNP Paribas lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Barclays raised their target price on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.62.

Ciena Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $73.58 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $67.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena has a 52 week low of $42.20 and a 52 week high of $73.78.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,489 shares of company stock valued at $657,051. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Ciena by 424.4% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 118.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.