Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Rating Lowered by BNP Paribas

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) was downgraded by analysts at BNP Paribas from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $67.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $59.00. BNP Paribas’ target price points to a potential downside of 2.19% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ciena from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.92.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $68.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.87, a PEG ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena has a one year low of $39.94 and a one year high of $68.52. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $56.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The business had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $502,953 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 424.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 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.