Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Analysts

by · The Markets Daily

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN – Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $506.11.

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus set a $550.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Northland Securities set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Evercore raised Ciena from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 21st.

Get Our Latest Report on Ciena

Ciena Trading Down 7.0%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded down $24.79 during trading on Friday, reaching $331.73. 3,195,408 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,973,466. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a current ratio of 3.80. Ciena has a 12-month low of $159.56 and a 12-month high of $637.51. The firm has a market cap of $47.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $376.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $440.27.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a net margin of 10.87% and a return on equity of 25.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 6.00 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, EVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.52, for a total transaction of $568,612.72. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,570 shares in the company, valued at $14,186,636.40. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Marc Graff sold 97 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.19, for a total value of $34,453.43. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 107,136 shares in the company, valued at $38,053,635.84. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 31,862 shares of company stock worth $12,017,320 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in Ciena by 8.2% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 31,473 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,073,000 after acquiring an additional 2,387 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 13,964 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,306,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $267,000. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $659,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,483 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $522,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

(Get Free Report)

Ciena Corporation is a networking technology company that provides communications infrastructure, software and services for telecommunications providers, cloud operators, enterprises, governments and research institutions. Its solutions are designed to help organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support applications such as cloud computing, broadband connectivity, data center interconnection and 5G services.

The company’s portfolio includes optical networking systems and coherent optical technologies, routing and switching platforms, broadband access solutions, network management software and professional services.

Further Reading