Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price Up 11.4% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) were up 11.4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $494.12 and last traded at $498.9310. Approximately 1,918,530 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 3,390,724 shares. The stock had previously closed at $447.88.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $250.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Evercore set a $330.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $286.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.12.

Ciena Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $70.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 315.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $341.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $249.84.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total value of $1,226,585.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 281,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $116,909,971.15. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,866.40. This trade represents a 99.69% 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 89,697 shares of company stock worth $27,475,242 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth about $2,747,810,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth about $292,310,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth about $102,705,000. 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.