Needham & Company LLC Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price objective increased by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $80.00 to $95.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 5.88% from the stock’s previous close.

CIEN has been the topic of a number of other reports. 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. Citigroup lifted their price target on Ciena from $68.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Ciena Trading Up 6.2 %

CIEN opened at $89.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $68.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.86. The company has a market capitalization of $12.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 157.40, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. Ciena has a 52 week low of $42.20 and a 52 week high of $91.25.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock valued at $657,051. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in Ciena by 55.5% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,441 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $503,000 after purchasing an additional 3,725 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the second quarter worth about $355,000. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $227,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $146,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.