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

Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $327.1176.

CIEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, December 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ciena from $280.00 to $286.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Northland Securities set a $190.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th.

Ciena Stock Down 8.9%

NYSE CIEN opened at $365.86 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $51.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 233.03, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average of $318.45 and a 200-day moving average of $237.41. Ciena has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $446.89.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total value of $2,025,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 46,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,105. This trade represents a 9.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.45, for a total transaction of $2,642,514.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 50,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,414,350.80. This represents a 18.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 148,283 shares of company stock valued at $36,397,491 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Stance Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,348,000. Forty three Eighteen Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $1,519,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Ciena by 126.0% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 8,413 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,968,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691 shares in the last quarter. Spear Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth about $6,947,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 4,028 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $942,000 after acquiring an additional 999 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Ciena

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.