Rosenblatt Securities Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its target price boosted by analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from $75.00 to $94.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ target price indicates a potential upside of 4.77% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. BNP Paribas cut Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Northland Securities upped their target price on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $89.72 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $68.91 and its 200 day moving average is $57.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 157.40, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. Ciena has a 12 month low of $42.20 and a 12 month high of $91.25. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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

Ciena declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena 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 directly owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’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 value 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 $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051 in the last 90 days. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 4.8% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 403,490 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $24,851,000 after purchasing an additional 18,426 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in Ciena by 75.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,315 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 3,584 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $148,348,000 after buying an additional 33,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 68.5% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 7,988 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after buying an additional 3,246 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

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.