Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Rating Lowered to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $63.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $63.54 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $60.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.18 billion, a PE ratio of 67.59, a P/E/G 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 has a one year low of $41.37 and a one year high of $69.91.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Ciena by 1,171.4% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,161,000 after purchasing an additional 41,326 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth approximately $661,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,039,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Ciena by 13.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,499,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $72,223,000 after acquiring an additional 181,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 372.8% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 36,744 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 28,972 shares during the period. 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.