Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target Raised to $94.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price target upped by Rosenblatt Securities from $75.00 to $94.00 in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a neutral rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CIEN. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup upped their target price on Ciena from $68.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Ciena Stock Up 6.2 %

Ciena stock opened at $89.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 157.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.92. Ciena has a one year low of $42.20 and a one year 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 announced its quarterly 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). Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,989 shares of company stock valued at $460,211 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Ciena by 3.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ciena by 4.6% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,404 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Ciena by 2.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $635,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in Ciena by 5.4% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 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.