Evercore ISI Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its target price lifted by analysts at Evercore ISI from $120.00 to $200.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “in-line” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Evercore ISI’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 3.32% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on CIEN. Bank of America boosted their target price on Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Wall Street Zen cut Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $127.50 to $175.00 in a report on Friday, September 26th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $153.20.

Ciena Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $206.86 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 213.26, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17. Ciena has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $214.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $157.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.03.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Ciena had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 3.10%.The company had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total value of $59,276.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 40,653 shares in the company, valued at $6,884,992.08. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total value of $1,185,555.32. Following the sale, the director owned 54,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,653,914.88. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 52,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,231,504. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,088,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,227,143,000 after purchasing an additional 103,199 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,787 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Ciena by 10.4% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $284,313,000 after purchasing an additional 329,821 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 35.0% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,708,540 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $220,286,000 after purchasing an additional 702,909 shares during the period. Finally, Senvest Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 12.4% in the second quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 1,655,012 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $134,602,000 after buying an additional 182,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

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.