Rosenblatt Securities Reaffirms Buy Rating for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN)

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $720.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 81.39% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday. Argus set a $650.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 5th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Ciena from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Zacks Research downgraded Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Ciena from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $527.78.

Ciena Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $396.94 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73. Ciena has a 52 week low of $87.25 and a 52 week high of $637.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $420.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $432.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.19 billion, a PE ratio of 132.31 and a beta of 1.30.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The company had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $739,599.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,992,499.76. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total transaction of $1,349,123.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 266,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $121,843,817.10. This trade represents a 1.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 25,422 shares of company stock valued at $11,638,117 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Markowski Investments bought a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 57.8% during the 2nd 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. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 2,100.0% during the 1st quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 88 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 635.7% in the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 103 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 71.0% in the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.