Bank of America Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN)

Bank of America reissued their neutral rating on shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) in a research note published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Bank of America currently has a $59.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Ciena from $52.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $59.15.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $51.16 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.76 and a current ratio of 3.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.35 billion, a PE ratio of 49.19, a PEG ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $63.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. Ciena had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 3.71%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value of $130,962.48. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 96,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,635,840. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value of $130,962.48. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 96,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,635,840. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total value of $170,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 212,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in Ciena by 119.9% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Ciena by 1,944.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $101,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,513 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,941,419 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,476,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Ciena during the 1st quarter worth approximately $48,214,000. 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.