Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Gap Up to $58.73

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $58.73, but opened at $60.40. Ciena shares last traded at $61.29, with a volume of 401,347 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

Ciena Trading Up 4.4 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $52.66 and its 200 day moving average is $49.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.86 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total value of $170,835.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 212,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total transaction of $170,835.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value of $130,962.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 96,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,635,840. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,712 shares of company stock worth $498,637 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 119.9% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,054,000 after buying an additional 2,943,146 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1,944.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $101,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,513 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7,767.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $94,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941,419 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at $73,476,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at $48,214,000. Institutional investors 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.