Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Rosenblatt Securities Analyst Says

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its target price lifted by equities research analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from $100.00 to $127.50 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ target price indicates a potential upside of 9.38% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Ciena from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday. B. Riley restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $113.00 price target (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report 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 issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.32.

Ciena Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $116.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40. Ciena has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $122.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 120.18, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.16. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 3.10%.The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total transaction of $187,162.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,829,056.50. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.94, for a total value of $31,829.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 43,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,934,791.92. This trade represents a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,769 shares of company stock valued at $3,326,705. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 50.0% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Ciena by 34.7% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in Ciena by 66.7% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Ciena by 107.5% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by 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.