Morgan Stanley Reaffirms Underweight Rating for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN)

Morgan Stanley reiterated their underweight rating on shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $70.00 target price on the communications equipment provider's stock, down from their prior target price of $73.00.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.08.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock traded down $0.46 on Tuesday, reaching $77.99. 1,638,172 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,134,761. Ciena has a 52 week low of $44.89 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The company has a 50 day moving average of $78.03 and a 200 day moving average of $75.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a PE ratio of 108.32, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.40 and a quick ratio of 2.57.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total transaction of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 47,198 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total transaction of $199,825.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 202,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,175,434.10. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,919 shares of company stock worth $3,115,199. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 40.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $179,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 959,831 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $81,403,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth $2,398,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 44,711 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,792,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 50.0% in the 1st 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. 91.99% of the stock is 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.