Citigroup Initiates Coverage on Ciena (NYSE:CIEN)

Investment analysts at Citigroup started coverage on shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set a "sell" rating and a $44.00 price target on the communications equipment provider's stock. Citigroup's price target points to a potential downside of 3.47% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ciena from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.79.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded down $1.52 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $45.58. 2,121,372 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,051,925. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $52.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.25. The stock has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.60, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.99. Ciena has a one year low of $39.94 and a one year high of $63.24. The company has a quick ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 4.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.02 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. The company's revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.72, for a total value of $174,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 237,001 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,783,689.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.72, for a total value of $174,020.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 237,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,783,689.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.39, for a total transaction of $205,758.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 389,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,226,292.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 107,533 shares of company stock valued at $5,808,540. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 87.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 50,597 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 23,544 shares in the last quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 352,727 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $16,670,000 after purchasing an additional 90,206 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 17,585 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $833,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $483,000. Finally, Atreides Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,883,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

About Ciena

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.