Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Upgraded at Northland Securities

Northland Securities upgraded shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $75.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $60.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CIEN. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.38.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $63.84 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. Ciena has a 1-year low of $43.30 and a 1-year high of $101.44. The company has a market capitalization of $9.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.00, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50-day moving average of $82.30 and a 200-day moving average of $73.19.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The firm’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total transaction of $30,068.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares in the company, valued at $4,256,582.77. The trade was a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 63,442 shares of company stock worth $5,337,764. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 108.6% during the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Ciena by 925.0% during the fourth 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. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Ciena by 328.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 73.7% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 77.2% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.