Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target Raised to $98.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) had its target price increased by Citigroup from $84.00 to $98.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the communications equipment provider's stock.

CIEN has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.00.

Ciena Stock Up 6.2 %

NYSE:CIEN traded up $5.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $89.72. 6,668,578 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,848,684. 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 cap of $12.96 billion, a PE ratio of 157.40, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $68.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.86. Ciena has a one year low of $42.20 and a one year 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock valued at $657,051. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 2,943,146 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 7,767.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $94,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941,419 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $57,861,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ciena by 428.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 886,354 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $42,705,000 after purchasing an additional 718,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,416,000. 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.