Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Rating Upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) was upgraded by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Finviz reports. The firm presently has a $88.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $84.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 15.39% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Northland Securities increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.77.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $76.27 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $80.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.38. Ciena has a 52-week low of $43.30 and a 52-week high of $101.44. The company has a market cap of $10.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 133.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total transaction of $1,436,843.52. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,781 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,500 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth about $202,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 640.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 64,466 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,106,000 after acquiring an additional 55,763 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 490.2% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 50,062 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,412,000 after acquiring an additional 41,580 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 13.7% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,799 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its stake in Ciena by 118.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.