Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Friday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $84.00 to $98.00. The stock had previously closed at $84.52, but opened at $87.16. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Ciena shares last traded at $88.78, with a volume of 704,051 shares trading hands.

CIEN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley cut Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America raised Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 of the company's stock, valued at $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051. Insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in Ciena by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,334,290,000 after buying an additional 108,407 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its stake in Ciena by 119.9% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Ciena by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,439,478 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $273,427,000 after purchasing an additional 53,078 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Ciena by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $130,392,000 after purchasing an additional 523,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $148,348,000 after purchasing an additional 33,074 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Price Performance

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 company's fifty day moving average price is $68.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.81. 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 (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. Ciena's revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.