Brokerages Set Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) PT at $67.15

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $77.00.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities increased their target price on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th.

Ciena Stock Down 3.3 %

NYSE:CIEN opened at $88.14 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $12.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 154.63, a P/E/G ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $69.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.51. Ciena has a 52-week low of $42.20 and a 52-week high of $91.82.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. Ciena’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total value of $236,005.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares in the company, 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 have sold a total of 6,989 shares of company stock worth $460,211 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 3.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,404 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Ciena by 424.4% during 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 during the period. 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.