Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target Raised to $105.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $83.00 to $105.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the communications equipment provider's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s target price would suggest a potential upside of 24.06% from the stock's previous close.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on CIEN. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Citigroup reduced 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. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $85.54.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $0.52 during trading on Thursday, reaching $84.64. The stock had a trading volume of 939,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,151,284. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40. The stock has a market cap of $11.96 billion, a PE ratio of 117.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena has a one year low of $44.89 and a one year high of $101.44. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $78.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.83.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total value of $199,825.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 202,370 shares in the company, valued at $16,175,434.10. The trade was a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total transaction of $488,920.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 368,880 shares in the company, valued at $26,522,472. This represents a 1.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,469 shares of company stock worth $2,747,647 in the last 90 days. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 108.6% during the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake 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. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd increased 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 valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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