Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

CIEN has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.67.

Ciena Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $297.93 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $41.96 billion, a PE ratio of 350.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Ciena has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $298.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $237.84 and a 200 day moving average of $177.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.60, for a total value of $784,051.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 301,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,195,264. The trade was a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total value of $2,741,522.78. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 49,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,370,344.50. The trade was a 19.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 157,242 shares of company stock worth $36,341,766. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $1,993,000. World Investment Advisors purchased a new position in Ciena in the second quarter valued at $253,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $1,726,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Ciena by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $426,420,000 after purchasing an additional 359,579 shares during the period. Finally, M & L Capital Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $714,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently 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.