Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Upgraded to “Buy” at Rosenblatt Securities

Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $175.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $127.50.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $113.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.86.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $142.13 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $20.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 146.53, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.16. Ciena has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $143.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.39. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.00, for a total value of $46,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,665,176. The trade was a 0.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total transaction of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 54,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,653,914.88. The trade was a 13.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,186 shares of company stock valued at $4,787,846. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 516.6% during the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 18,719 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 15,683 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in Ciena by 322.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 34,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,912,000 after acquiring an additional 25,986 shares in the last quarter. Connective Portfolio Management LLC acquired a new position in Ciena during the second quarter worth about $651,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group acquired a new position in Ciena during the second quarter worth about $180,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ciena during the first quarter worth about $219,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

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.