Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $530.5556.

CIEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ciena from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th.

Ciena Stock Down 6.4%

CIEN opened at $418.13 on Thursday. Ciena has a twelve month low of $80.83 and a twelve month high of $637.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $501.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $402.93. The stock has a market cap of $59.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.38 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ciena will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $58,741.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 126,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,186,421. This represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total value of $1,225,639.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 62,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,082,488.40. This represents a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,627 shares of company stock valued at $10,974,985. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Community Bank N.A. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 71.0% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 2,100.0% in the first 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 last quarter. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 57.8% during the second quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.