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

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price target raised by Stifel Nicolaus from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on CIEN. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Bank of America reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Northland Securities reiterated a market perform rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $62.92.

Ciena Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $68.45 on Wednesday. Ciena has a 52 week low of $39.94 and a 52 week high of $69.91. 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 company has a market cap of $9.89 billion, a PE ratio of 72.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.07.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. Ciena’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at $11,552,877.04. 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 hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $502,953 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 119.9% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Ciena by 1,944.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $101,986,000 after buying an additional 1,961,513 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7,767.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $94,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941,419 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Ciena in the first quarter valued at approximately $48,214,000. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP raised its holdings in Ciena by 118.7% during the first quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP now owns 1,524,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $75,378,000 after buying an additional 827,352 shares during the last quarter. 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.