Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target Raised to $97.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) had its target price raised by Barclays from $67.00 to $97.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the communications equipment provider's stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ciena from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered Ciena from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock traded up $5.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $89.72. 6,668,578 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,848,684. The company has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 157.40, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $68.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.81. Ciena has a 52-week low of $42.20 and a 52-week high of $91.25.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. Ciena's quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of Ciena 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock valued at $657,051 over the last quarter. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 55.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,441 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 3,725 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the second quarter valued at $355,000. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new stake in Ciena in the second quarter worth $40,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the second quarter worth $227,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at $146,000. 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.