Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $63.08.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ciena from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Ciena Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE CIEN opened at $66.55 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $58.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.56 billion, a PE ratio of 63.99, a PEG ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena has a fifty-two week low of $39.94 and a fifty-two week high of $69.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99.

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

Ciena declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 5.8% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 17,336 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $857,000 after acquiring an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 26,271 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,299,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 815,486 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $40,326,000 after purchasing an additional 4,444 shares in the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Harbour Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 4.2% in the first quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 30,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.