Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Downgraded by Northland Capmk to Hold

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) was downgraded by investment analysts at Northland Capmk from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. B. Riley reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, October 13th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.38.

Ciena Trading Down 9.7%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $218.82 on Friday. Ciena has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $248.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market cap of $30.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 257.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total value of $59,276.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 40,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,884,992.08. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 254,870 shares in the company, valued at $49,090,510.70. The trade was a 2.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 51,935 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,266. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the third quarter worth about $292,310,000. Atreides Management LP purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $102,705,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,787 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,093,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 3,577.9% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,032,393 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,965,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004,323 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.