Needham & Company LLC Reiterates "Buy" Rating for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN)

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $90.00 price target on the communications equipment provider's stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CIEN. Northland Securities raised Ciena from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $83.15.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded down $0.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $72.46. 3,397,380 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,066,719. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Ciena has a 52 week low of $44.69 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.30 billion, a PE ratio of 127.12, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.12. The company's 50 day moving average is $70.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.98.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.18, for a total transaction of $443,224.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 391,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,534,199.82. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares in the company, valued at $5,344,769.04. The trade was a 17.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 51,788 shares of company stock valued at $3,431,319. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 108.6% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 328.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 73.7% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 77.2% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.