Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Receives $81.38 Average PT from Analysts

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $81.38.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 target price (down previously from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Securities raised Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays set a $100.00 price target on Ciena and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN stock opened at $65.47 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 114.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.74. Ciena has a 52 week low of $43.30 and a 52 week high of $101.44.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,256,582.77. The trade was a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the sale, the director now owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 66,742 shares of company stock worth $5,469,173. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

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

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.