Stifel Nicolaus Issues Positive Forecast for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price

Key Points

• Stifel Nicolaus raised its price target for Ciena's stock from $90.00 to $100.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.02% from its previous close.
• Ciena's stock has received a mixture of ratings, with two analysts giving it a Strong Buy rating and others varying from Buy to Hold, resulting in a consensus rating of Moderate Buy.
• The company reported a quarterly loss of $0.42 EPS, below the consensus estimate of $0.50, despite achieving a revenue increase of 23.6% year-over-year to $1.13 billion.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) had its price target upped by Stifel Nicolaus from $90.00 to $100.00 in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the communications equipment provider's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Monday, June 30th. Evercore ISI reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $78.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $114.32.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $116.57. The stock had a trading volume of 4,410,274 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,392,859. Ciena has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $122.00. The firm has a market cap of $16.48 billion, a PE ratio of 120.18, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.40 and a quick ratio of 2.57. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $89.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.29.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 3.10%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.94, for a total transaction of $31,829.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 43,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,934,791.92. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,198 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,769 shares of company stock valued at $3,326,705. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atreides Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $102,705,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter worth approximately $70,065,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Ciena by 3,577.9% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,032,393 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $83,965,000 after buying an additional 1,004,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 375.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $100,499,000 after purchasing an additional 975,792 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.