Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Citigroup Analyst Says

Key Points

• Citigroup raised its price target on Ciena to $230 (up from $141) and kept a "buy" rating, implying roughly a 10.25% upside from the stock's recent price.
• Multiple analysts—including Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Evercore and Bank of America—have recently increased targets or upgraded Ciena, and the consensus from MarketBeat is a "Moderate Buy" with a $153.20 average target.
• CIEN recently traded around $208.62 (near its 52-week high of $214.17) with a $29.4B market cap and a high P/E (~215); insiders have sold shares (52,174 over 90 days) while institutional ownership is about 91.99%.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by Citigroup from $141.00 to $230.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the communications equipment provider's stock. Citigroup's price target points to a potential upside of 10.25% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ciena from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $100.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Barclays increased their target price on Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Ciena from $120.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $153.20.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock traded up $9.36 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $208.62. 3,520,754 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,395,820. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $153.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $107.02. Ciena has a 12 month low of $49.21 and a 12 month high of $214.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 215.07, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total value of $59,276.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 40,653 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,884,992.08. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.45, for a total transaction of $1,295,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 268,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,130,111.50. This trade represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 52,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,231,504. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at $39,000. 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.

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