Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $530.5556.

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings lowered Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Northland Securities set a $450.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $58,741.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 126,955 shares in the company, valued at $59,186,421. This represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total transaction of $739,599.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,992,499.76. The trade was a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,675 shares of company stock worth $9,387,576. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC now owns 1,142 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 57.8% during the second quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 1.8% during the first quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in Ciena by 9.5% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 358 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,107 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,194,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $377.33 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $53.41 billion, a PE ratio of 125.78 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $457.45 and a 200-day moving average of $414.78. Ciena has a 52-week low of $84.41 and a 52-week high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena’s product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.