Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Receives $63.08 Average Target Price from Analysts

by · The Cerbat Gem

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN – Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $63.08.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, September 23rd.

View Our Latest Research Report on CIEN

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $64.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.64, a PEG ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena has a one year low of $40.46 and a one year high of $69.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The company had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings 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 raised its position in shares of Ciena by 24.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $130,392,000 after purchasing an additional 523,313 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1,944.4% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 1,961,513 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 17.2% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $98,743,000 after purchasing an additional 301,390 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 7,767.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $94,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941,419 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Company Profile

(Get Free Report

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.

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