Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Given New $98.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price objective boosted by Citigroup from $84.00 to $98.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on CIEN. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays upped their price objective on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN opened at $89.72 on Friday. 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 has a 1 year low of $42.20 and a 1 year high of $91.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $68.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.92. The stock has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.40, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program 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 reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This represents a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 6,989 shares of company stock worth $460,211. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 119.9% in the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Ciena by 7,767.2% during 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 buying an additional 1,941,419 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Ciena during the third quarter worth about $57,861,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ciena by 428.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 886,354 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,705,000 after acquiring an additional 718,551 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at about $40,416,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.