JPMorgan Chase & Co. Upgrades Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) to “Overweight”

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $88.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $84.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on CIEN. Northland Securities upped their price objective on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.77.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $80.01 on Tuesday. 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day moving average of $81.10 and a 200 day moving average of $66.60.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The firm’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total value of $311,815.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 192,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,194,102.73. This trade represents a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,781 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,500. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Ciena by 925.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.