Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $530.5556.

A number of research analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.92, for a total transaction of $1,670,595.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 269,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $152,547,697.44. This trade represents a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.65, for a total transaction of $684,780.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,074,931.65. The trade was a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 44,174 shares of company stock worth $19,502,359. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,747,810,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 30,114.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $671,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,176 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $292,310,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Ciena by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $947,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,132 shares during the period. Finally, Atreides Management LP acquired a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $102,705,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $445.32 on Friday. Ciena has a 12 month low of $71.72 and a 12 month high of $637.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.04 billion, a PE ratio of 148.44 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $521.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $363.71.

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

Ciena Company Profile

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.