Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $66.69, but opened at $64.49. Ciena shares last traded at $64.91, with a volume of 369,516 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ciena from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.38.

Ciena Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $55.75 and its 200 day moving average is $50.70. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 repurchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal 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 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $502,953. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 122.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 23,499 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,447,000 after buying an additional 12,938 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 215.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,651 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128 shares during the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $285,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 32,666 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,012,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its position in 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 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.