Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Upgraded to "Buy" at Bank of America

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $95.00 price target on the communications equipment provider's stock, up from their previous price target of $70.00. Bank of America's target price would indicate a potential upside of 6.18% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Ciena from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. BNP Paribas cut 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 report on Wednesday, October 9th. Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.00.

Ciena Trading Up 5.9 %

Shares of Ciena stock traded up $4.95 during trading on Friday, hitting $89.47. The stock had a trading volume of 5,868,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,843,804. 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 has a market capitalization of $12.92 billion, a PE ratio of 94.89, a P/E/G ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. Ciena has a 1 year low of $42.20 and a 1 year high of $91.25. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.52.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its board has initiated a share 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 repurchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the 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 completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,485,797.71. This represents a 1.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 0.5% during the third 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 last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Ciena by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,439,478 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $273,427,000 after acquiring an additional 53,078 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in 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 valued at $130,392,000 after purchasing an additional 523,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ciena by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $148,348,000 after purchasing an additional 33,074 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.