Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Price Target Raised to $230.00

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its target price lifted by Citigroup from $141.00 to $230.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on CIEN. Bank of America upped their price objective on Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $153.20.

Ciena Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $209.36 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 215.83, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $214.17. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.73.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.45, for a total transaction of $1,424,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 261,670 shares in the company, valued at $54,806,781.50. This trade represents a 2.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total value of $262,943.82. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 43,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. This trade represents a 4.10% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 58,974 shares of company stock valued at $8,655,764 in the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 50.4% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 104.0% during the third quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Ciena by 34.7% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently 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.