Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target Raised to $95.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its target price raised by Needham & Company LLC from $80.00 to $95.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

CIEN has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America upgraded shares of 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 report on Friday. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup increased their price target on Ciena from $68.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Ciena from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $89.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. The company has a market capitalization of $12.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.40, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $68.91 and a 200 day moving average of $57.92. Ciena has a one year low of $42.20 and a one year high of $91.25.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, 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 ninety days, insiders sold 6,989 shares of company stock worth $460,211. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in Ciena in the third quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.