Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Rating Lowered by Evercore ISI

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) was downgraded by equities researchers at Evercore ISI from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $65.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 2.34% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

Ciena Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:CIEN opened at $66.56 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.44. Ciena has a 12-month low of $39.94 and a 12-month high of $69.91. The firm has a market cap of $9.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.00, a PEG ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related 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 transaction of $236,005.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123 over the last three months. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 119.9% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,054,000 after buying an additional 2,943,146 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in 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 worth $101,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,513 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $94,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941,419 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Ciena during the first quarter worth about $48,214,000. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP increased its stake in Ciena by 118.7% during the first quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP now owns 1,524,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $75,378,000 after acquiring an additional 827,352 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.