Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target Cut to $76.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price objective reduced by Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $76.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 18.98% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Northland Securities upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.23.

Ciena Trading Down 2.5 %

NYSE CIEN opened at $63.88 on Wednesday. Ciena has a one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $101.44. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.27. The firm has a market cap of $9.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.07, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted 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 earned $0.56 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total transaction of $1,137,776.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 425,749 shares in the company, valued at $35,618,161.34. This trade represents a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 49,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,256,582.77. This represents a 0.70 % 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 valued at $5,337,764. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 108.6% in the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Ciena by 925.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 73.7% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Ciena by 328.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during 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.