Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Upgraded by BNP Paribas Exane to Outperform Rating

BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $185.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on CIEN. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Monday, June 30th. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.53.

Ciena Stock Up 5.8%

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $164.98 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $119.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $167.34. The company has a market cap of $23.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 170.08, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.15.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total transaction of $262,943.82. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 43,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.88, for a total transaction of $1,019,184.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 282,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,276,651.60. The trade was a 2.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,224 shares of company stock valued at $4,719,468. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Atreides Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $102,705,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $70,065,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 3,577.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,032,393 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,965,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004,323 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 375.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $100,499,000 after purchasing an additional 975,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP increased its holdings in Ciena by 546.9% in the 2nd quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP now owns 997,425 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $81,106,000 after acquiring an additional 843,235 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.