Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Rating Increased to Outperform at Northland Securities

Northland Securities upgraded shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $75.00 target price on the communications equipment provider's stock, up from their prior target price of $60.00.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on CIEN. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.38.

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Ciena Trading Down 6.2 %

Shares of CIEN traded down $4.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $62.30. The stock had a trading volume of 2,964,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,908,983. The stock's 50 day moving average is $83.11 and its 200 day moving average is $73.22. The firm has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of 109.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. Ciena has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total transaction of $1,137,776.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 425,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,618,161.34. This represents a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 63,442 shares of company stock worth $5,337,764. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth about $106,000. Forum Financial Management LP purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth about $259,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena during the fourth quarter worth approximately $216,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $254,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.