Rosenblatt Securities Increases Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target to $305.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its target price hoisted by equities research analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from $175.00 to $305.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ target price indicates a potential upside of 39.39% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ciena from $140.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.38.

Ciena Trading Down 9.7%

CIEN opened at $218.82 on Friday. Ciena has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $248.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.87 billion, a PE ratio of 257.43, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $188.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $128.83.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 43,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. This trade represents a 4.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total transaction of $1,309,748.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 254,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,090,510.70. This trade represents a 2.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 51,935 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,266 in the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

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