Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

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

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. 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 note on Monday, October 7th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, 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 this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total value of $236,005.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 6,989 shares of company stock worth $460,211. 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 the business. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 241.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $89.72 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.92. Ciena has a 52 week low of $42.20 and a 52 week high of $91.25. 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 cap of $12.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management 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.