Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target Raised to $60.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its target price raised by Northland Securities from $46.00 to $60.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Northland Securities currently has a market perform rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on CIEN. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. BNP Paribas downgraded Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ciena from $68.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Ciena Stock Up 6.2 %

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $89.72 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $42.20 and a twelve month high of $91.25. The company has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day moving average is $68.91 and its 200 day moving average is $57.92.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The business’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.13 EPS for the current 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 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at $13,485,797.71. This represents a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 6,989 shares of company stock worth $460,211. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 55.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,441 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $503,000 after acquiring an additional 3,725 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ciena in the second quarter worth about $355,000. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the second quarter worth approximately $146,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.