Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.00.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. B. Riley reduced their price objective on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total value of $170,835.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total value of $170,835.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $502,953. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the first quarter worth approximately $40,000. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 339.5% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,213 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $65.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a PE ratio of 62.73, a PEG ratio of 7.93 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 has a 1-year low of $39.94 and a 1-year high of $66.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $54.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.28.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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.