Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $219.49 and last traded at $215.3050, with a volume of 994261 shares. The stock had previously closed at $212.93.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CIEN. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ciena from $140.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $113.00 target price (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $130.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.73.

Ciena Stock Up 1.9%

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $182.50 and its 200 day moving average is $125.13. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $30.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 224.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $844.44 million during the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total transaction of $1,309,748.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 254,870 shares in the company, valued at $49,090,510.70. This represents a 2.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total transaction of $59,276.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 40,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,884,992.08. This trade represents a 0.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 51,935 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,266 over the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $292,310,000. Atreides Management LP bought a new position in Ciena in the second quarter worth $102,705,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ciena by 23.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $941,451,000 after buying an additional 1,219,787 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at $70,065,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2,174.2% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,143,855 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $166,625,000 after buying an additional 1,093,557 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.