Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.79.

CIEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set a “sell” rating and a $44.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 3,156 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.74, for a total value of $144,355.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,340,561.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 3,156 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.74, for a total value of $144,355.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,171 shares in the company, valued at $2,340,561.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $26,442.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,052,464.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 107,189 shares of company stock worth $5,754,880 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,084,694 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $712,903,000 after acquiring an additional 155,964 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 4.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,940,640 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $422,535,000 after purchasing an additional 371,041 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. lifted its position in Ciena by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. now owns 5,021,719 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $226,028,000 after purchasing an additional 368,897 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 8.6% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 4,652,822 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $219,893,000 after purchasing an additional 366,647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in Ciena by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,513,633 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $158,149,000 after purchasing an additional 791,215 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE CIEN opened at $46.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a PE ratio of 30.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.99. Ciena has a 1-year low of $39.94 and a 1-year high of $63.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $50.50 and a 200-day moving average of $48.25. The company has a current ratio of 4.29, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

About Ciena

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.