Morgan Stanley Raises Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target to $73.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) had its price objective lifted by Morgan Stanley from $44.00 to $73.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the communications equipment provider's stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday. Barclays set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday. Finally, B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.07.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN stock traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $72.88. The stock had a trading volume of 3,206,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,064,298. The stock has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a PE ratio of 127.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.84. Ciena has a 52-week low of $44.69 and a 52-week high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. Ciena's revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.67, for a total transaction of $27,534.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,233 shares in the company, valued at $3,637,150.11. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.89, for a total transaction of $543,252.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 362,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,926,571.20. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,788 shares of company stock valued at $3,431,319 over the last 90 days. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 108.6% in the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 328.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 73.7% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 77.2% in 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 34.7% in 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. 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.