Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $78.77.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Morgan Stanley lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Northland Securities increased their target price on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.86, for a total transaction of $577,048.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 412,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,974,964.14. The trade was a 1.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total value of $31,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,601.52. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,642 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,176 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 108.6% in the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Ciena by 925.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Ciena by 328.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 73.7% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $84.15 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $86.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.44. Ciena has a 12-month low of $43.30 and a 12-month high of $101.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.00 billion, a PE ratio of 147.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.88. 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 data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

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.