Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Up 10.1% – Time to Buy?

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)’s stock price rose 10.1% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $195.42 and last traded at $196.3450. Approximately 1,392,094 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 2,434,475 shares. The stock had previously closed at $178.26.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 price target on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Ciena from $120.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $153.20.

Ciena Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $27.57 billion, a PE ratio of 201.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $168.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $115.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. Ciena had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 3.10%. On average, equities analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total transaction of $59,276.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 40,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,884,992.08. This trade represents a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total value of $262,943.82. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 43,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,143,965.34. This trade represents a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 51,935 shares of company stock valued at $8,029,442 over the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Ciena during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 50.4% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 104.0% in the third quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter worth about $31,000. 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.