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

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price target boosted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $44.00 to $73.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 0.16% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also commented on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $85.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.15.

Ciena Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE CIEN opened at $72.88 on Friday. Ciena has a one year low of $44.69 and a one year high of $101.44. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.36 billion, a PE ratio of 127.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.12.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total transaction of $199,825.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 202,370 shares in the company, valued at $16,175,434.10. The trade was a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.89, for a total transaction of $543,252.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 362,080 shares in the company, valued at $28,926,571.20. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 51,788 shares of company stock worth $3,431,319 in the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Ciena by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ciena by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 959,831 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $81,403,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,129,000. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $328,000. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR purchased a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $380,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.