Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $81.23.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Securities upgraded Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 target price (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th.

Ciena Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $83.30 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $69.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.70. Ciena has a 52-week low of $44.69 and a 52-week high of $101.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 146.13, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total value of $1,131,013.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares in the company, valued at $5,344,769.04. This trade represents a 17.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.89, for a total value of $543,252.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 362,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,926,571.20. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,788 shares of company stock worth $3,431,319 in the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Ciena by 195.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,626,153 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $392,345,000 after purchasing an additional 3,062,883 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at $70,065,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its stake in Ciena by 113.7% during the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $183,987,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,260 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Ciena by 4,215.9% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 899,828 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $76,314,000 after purchasing an additional 878,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at $49,221,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.