Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Receives $77.00 Average Price Target from Analysts

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $77.00.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN opened at $82.22 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.68 billion, a PE ratio of 87.47, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. Ciena has a 52-week low of $43.30 and a 52-week high of $91.82.

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

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This represents a 1.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,131 shares of company stock worth $3,924,465 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 152.8% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 118.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.