BNP Paribas Upgrades Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) to “Outperform”

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) was upgraded by equities research analysts at BNP Paribas from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on CIEN. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $127.50 to $175.00 in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.53.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $164.89 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $121.13 and a 200-day moving average of $90.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 169.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.15. 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 twelve month low of $49.21 and a twelve month high of $167.34.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $631,924.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 305,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,358,240.01. The trade was a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.00, for a total transaction of $46,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 42,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,665,176. The trade was a 0.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,224 shares of company stock valued at $4,719,468 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Ciena by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its position in Ciena by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Ciena by 107.5% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Ciena by 15.4% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in Ciena by 82.5% during the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,203 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by 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.