Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Cut to “Equal Weight” at Morgan Stanley

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

CIEN has been the subject of several other research reports. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $64.63 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.78 and a 200 day moving average of $52.69. The company has a market capitalization of $9.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.76, a PEG ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena has a 12 month low of $41.37 and a 12 month high of $69.91. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The firm 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 business’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’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 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 424.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the first quarter worth $40,000. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in Ciena by 339.5% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,213 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.