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

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price objective boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ciena from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ciena from a sell rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Northland Securities reiterated a market perform rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Ciena from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and raised their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $62.92.

Ciena Trading Down 0.0 %

Ciena stock opened at $68.47 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.84, a P/E/G ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.08.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $502,953. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its position in Ciena by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 26,281 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,300,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 4.6% during the second 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. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 11,792 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.