Stifel Nicolaus Increases Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target to $75.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price target increased by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $68.00 to $75.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 9.49% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ciena from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.92.

Ciena Trading Up 1.5 %

CIEN opened at $68.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.84 billion, a PE ratio of 65.87, a P/E/G ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena has a one year low of $39.94 and a one year high of $68.52. 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 moving average price is $56.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total value 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $502,953 over the last 90 days. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nebula Research & Development LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 295.8% during the 4th quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 19,211 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $865,000 after buying an additional 14,357 shares during the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth approximately $354,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at $154,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 17,336 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 951 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.