Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its target price boosted by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $84.00 to $98.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 10.00% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CIEN. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

Ciena Trading Up 5.4 %

CIEN traded up $4.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $89.09. The stock had a trading volume of 5,274,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,842,359. Ciena has a 1-year low of $42.20 and a 1-year high of $91.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.52.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at $11,552,877.04. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in Ciena by 55.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,441 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $503,000 after buying an additional 3,725 shares in the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the second quarter valued at $355,000. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth about $227,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth about $146,000. 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.