Analysts Set Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Target Price at $81.38

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $81.38.

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Securities raised Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the transaction, the director now owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at $5,042,121.12. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,256,582.77. This represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,742 shares of company stock valued at $5,469,173 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $261,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 549.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 151,747 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,346,000 after acquiring an additional 128,392 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 16,327 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 119.6% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 239,389 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $14,744,000 after purchasing an additional 130,399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $65.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.86, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $80.57 and a 200-day moving average of $73.74. Ciena has a 52 week low of $43.30 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55.

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.