Wall Street Zen Downgrades Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) to Buy

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Sunday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Northland Capmk cut shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Argus lifted their target price on Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.50.

Ciena Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of CIEN opened at $235.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market cap of $33.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 277.20, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $195.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.95. Ciena has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $248.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,653,914.88. The trade was a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total transaction of $1,921,741.64. Following the sale, the director directly owned 9,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,116,746.52. This trade represents a 47.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 55,873 shares of company stock worth $10,062,655 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Community Bank N.A. bought a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 50.4% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Ciena by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena’s product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.