Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $77.00.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Northland Securities increased their price target on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at $13,485,797.71. This trade represents a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,131 shares of company stock valued at $3,924,465 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in Ciena by 118.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $82.39 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $76.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.19. Ciena has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $91.82.

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

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.