Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Downgraded to “In-Line” at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI cut shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from an outperform rating to an in-line rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $65.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

CIEN has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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, October 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $63.08.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $65.87 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $57.62 and a 200-day moving average of $51.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The company has a market capitalization of $9.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $69.91.

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

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,404 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased 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 buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its stake in Ciena by 4.1% in the third quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 11,792 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $726,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 3,465 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $167,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by 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.