Brokerages Set Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Target Price at $61.00

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $61.00.

Several research firms have commented on CIEN. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays upped their target price on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ciena from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $61.81 on Friday. Ciena has a 12-month low of $39.94 and a 12-month high of $63.24. The company has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of 59.43, a P/E/G ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.01. 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 (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $942.30 million during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at $11,552,877.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 0.9% in the first quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 26,281 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,300,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,404 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 3,465 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the period. Lumbard & Kellner LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lumbard & Kellner LLC now owns 65,799 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,170,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 30,862 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.