Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $95.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 15.54% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.00.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $82.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.47, a P/E/G ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. Ciena has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $91.82.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total value of $311,815.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 192,997 shares in the company, valued at $17,194,102.73. The trade was a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total transaction of $1,436,843.52. Following the transaction, the director now owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at $5,042,121.12. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,131 shares of company stock valued at $3,924,465 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 152.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP grew its position in Ciena by 118.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

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.