Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Upgraded at BNP Paribas Exane

BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat reports. BNP Paribas Exane currently has $185.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.53.

Ciena Stock Up 2.5%

Ciena stock opened at $168.86 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.52. Ciena has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $172.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 174.09, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.15. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total value of $262,943.82. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,143,965.34. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total transaction of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,653,914.88. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 38,224 shares of company stock worth $4,719,468. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 2.3% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,071 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 4.5% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,981 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 2.9% in the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,693 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 15.4% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its holdings in Ciena by 34.7% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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.