Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on CIEN. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.32.

Ciena Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $132.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 136.82, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.16. Ciena has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $134.31. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $92.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.94, for a total value of $31,829.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 43,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,934,791.92. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total transaction of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 47,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,769 shares of company stock valued at $3,326,705 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in Ciena by 60.3% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,745 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after buying an additional 4,794 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,804 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,680,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Ethic Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at about $727,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 33,995 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,946,000 after purchasing an additional 3,359 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.