Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Receives $67.15 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $77.00.

Several research firms have weighed in on CIEN. Morgan Stanley downgraded 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. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at $13,485,797.71. This trade represents a 1.72 % 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 worth $657,051. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 424.4% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its position 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 worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN opened at $89.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 157.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s fifty day moving average is $68.91 and its 200-day moving average is $57.81. Ciena has a 52-week low of $42.20 and a 52-week high of $91.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management 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.