Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Receives "Neutral" Rating from B. Riley

Key Points

• B. Riley has reissued a neutral rating for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN), raising the target price from $90.00 to $113.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.39% from its current price.
• Ciena's recent quarterly earnings showed a revenue increase of 23.6% year-over-year, reporting $1.13 billion, but the earnings per share of $0.42 fell short of the consensus estimate of $0.50.
• Several brokerages have rating variations for Ciena, with two analysts giving it a Strong Buy rating, indicating mixed market sentiment towards the stock.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "neutral" rating reissued by investment analysts at B. Riley in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $113.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider's stock, up from their prior price objective of $90.00. B. Riley's price objective would indicate a potential downside of 7.47% from the company's current price.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Ciena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $114.32.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN traded up $3.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $122.12. 2,131,474 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,341,220. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $90.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.23 billion, a PE ratio of 125.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.16. Ciena has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $122.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.94, for a total value of $31,829.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 43,268 shares in the company, valued at $3,934,791.92. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total value of $166,872.16. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at $3,853,244.72. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,769 shares of company stock valued at $3,326,705. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,088,445 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,227,143,000 after acquiring an additional 103,199 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $426,420,000 after purchasing an additional 359,579 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $284,313,000 after purchasing an additional 329,821 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 35.0% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,708,540 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $220,286,000 after buying an additional 702,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 113.7% during the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $183,987,000 after buying an additional 1,154,260 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is 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.