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

Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $530.5556.

Several research firms have commented on CIEN. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research lowered Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus set a $650.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Barclays upped their price objective on Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total transaction of $9,021,337.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 68 shares in the company, valued at $27,866.40. This trade represents a 99.69% decrease in their position. 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 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total value of $2,025,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 46,341 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,105. This trade represents a 9.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 45,374 shares of company stock worth $20,349,470 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 139.6% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 3,061 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,419,000 after buying an additional 3,117 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $234,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Down 0.0%

Ciena stock opened at $428.02 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena has a 12 month low of $73.55 and a 12 month high of $637.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $519.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $372.01. The firm has a market cap of $60.59 billion, a PE ratio of 142.67 and a beta of 1.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 EPS 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 business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current 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.