Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Rating Upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) was upgraded by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $88.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $84.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price points to a potential upside of 8.13% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on CIEN. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.77.

Ciena Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $81.38 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.57 billion, a PE ratio of 142.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.89. Ciena has a twelve month low of $43.30 and a twelve month high of $101.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $81.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.70. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.29, for a total value of $579,972.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 418,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,732,160.21. This trade represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total transaction of $1,436,843.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,042,121.12. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 50,781 shares of company stock worth $4,298,500. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in Ciena by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,978 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Ciena by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $635,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Ciena by 59.2% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Ciena by 925.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. 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.