Morgan Stanley Boosts Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target to $100.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price objective upped by Morgan Stanley from $70.00 to $100.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “underweight” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential downside of 14.21% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Argus raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on Ciena in a report on Monday, June 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Ciena from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ciena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $113.00 target price (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.32.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $116.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.40 and a quick ratio of 2.57. The stock has a market cap of $16.48 billion, a PE ratio of 120.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $89.35 and a 200-day moving average of $77.29. Ciena has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $122.00.

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

Insider Transactions at Ciena

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

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 2.9% in the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,693 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Ciena by 15.4% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its position in shares of 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 period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Ciena by 0.5% during the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 38,910 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,351,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently 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.