Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Needham & Company LLC Analyst Says

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $90.00 to $130.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 11.52% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Ciena from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Ciena from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target (down from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.32.

Ciena Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $116.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.40 and a quick ratio of 2.57. Ciena has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $122.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.29.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total value of $187,162.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,829,056.50. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total value of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,769 shares of company stock valued at $3,326,705 over the last 90 days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Ciena by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its position in Ciena by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Ciena by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its position in Ciena by 9,162.5% in the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 741 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 733 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.