Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN – Free Report) in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock.
CIEN has been the topic of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. 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, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their price target on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on CIEN
Ciena Trading Up 0.2 %
Ciena (NYSE:CIEN – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.
Ciena announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,131 shares of company stock worth $3,924,465. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena
A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its position in Ciena by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 8,279 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $702,000 after buying an additional 861 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at about $235,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Ciena by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,109 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $179,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Ciena by 925.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in Ciena by 4.8% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 403,490 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $24,851,000 after purchasing an additional 18,426 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.
Ciena Company Profile
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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