Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Upgraded by Bank of America to “Buy” Rating

Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. Bank of America currently has $95.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $70.00.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on CIEN. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN opened at $89.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 157.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.92. Ciena has a one year low of $42.20 and a one year high of $91.25.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This represents a 1.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 6,989 shares of company stock worth $460,211. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 119.9% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Ciena by 7,767.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $94,742,000 after buying an additional 1,941,419 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth about $57,861,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 428.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 886,354 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,705,000 after acquiring an additional 718,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,416,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.