Analysts Set Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target at $63.08

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $63.08.

CIEN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. 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, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ciena from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, September 23rd.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $66.05 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.16. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $9.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.51, a PEG ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena has a fifty-two week low of $39.94 and a fifty-two week high of $69.91.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its board has approved a stock 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 buy up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’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 transaction of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 119.9% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,054,000 after buying an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Ciena by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $130,392,000 after acquiring an additional 523,313 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Ciena by 1,944.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $101,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,513 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 17.2% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $98,743,000 after acquiring an additional 301,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7,767.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $94,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941,419 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.