JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target to $76.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its price target decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $88.00 to $76.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 26.20% from the company’s current price.

CIEN has been the subject of several other reports. Northland Securities upgraded Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 price objective (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 price target on shares of Ciena and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.69.

Ciena Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $60.22 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.85. The company has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. 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 has a 52-week low of $43.30 and a 52-week high of $101.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total value of $31,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,435,601.52. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.54, for a total value of $404,872.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 375,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,367,987.20. The trade was a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,288 shares of company stock worth $3,299,980 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,978 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 73.7% during 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 last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. 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.