Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target Increased to $75.00 by Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.94% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on CIEN. Citigroup upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.92.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $65.25 on Wednesday. Ciena has a 52-week low of $39.94 and a 52-week high of $66.78. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The business had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total transaction of $170,835.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total transaction of $170,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $502,953. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 122.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 23,499 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,447,000 after purchasing an additional 12,938 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 215.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,651 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $285,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 32,666 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,012,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares during the period. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its position in shares of Ciena by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 11,792 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently 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.