Bank of America Boosts Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target to $260.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $200.00 to $260.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 18.82% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on CIEN. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Ciena from $130.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $113.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.38.

Ciena Trading Down 9.7%

NYSE CIEN opened at $218.82 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.87 billion, a PE ratio of 257.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $188.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.83. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Ciena has a 12 month low of $49.21 and a 12 month high of $248.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total value of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 54,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,653,914.88. This trade represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total transaction of $262,943.82. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,143,965.34. This trade represents a 4.10% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 51,935 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,266 in the last 90 days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 28.6% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 48,879 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,954,000 after purchasing an additional 10,856 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 15.4% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 16.7% during the first quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 5,869 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 60.5% during the first quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 6,009 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $363,000 after buying an additional 2,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Ciena during the first quarter worth $816,000. 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.