Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price objective cut by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 44.46% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on CIEN. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.38.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $62.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of 109.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. Ciena has a 12 month low of $43.30 and a 12 month high of $101.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of $83.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.22.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released 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 return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total value of $311,815.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 192,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,194,102.73. The trade was a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total transaction of $519,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 398,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,453,129.09. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 63,442 shares of company stock worth $5,337,764. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 108.6% during the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 328.2% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 73.7% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 77.2% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

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.