Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $83.15.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Evercore ISI reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday. Northland Capmk raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective (up previously from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $72.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.86, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $70.07 and its 200 day moving average is $75.96. Ciena has a 1 year low of $44.69 and a 1 year high of $101.44. 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 (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.67, for a total value of $27,534.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,637,150.11. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,344,769.04. This trade represents a 17.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 51,788 shares of company stock valued at $3,431,319 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Greenleaf Trust grew its stake in Ciena by 2.8% during the fourth 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 grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Ciena by 73.7% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Ciena by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Ciena by 15.4% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. 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.