Ciena’s (CIEN) Neutral Rating Reaffirmed at Bank of America

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by stock analysts at Bank of America in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $260.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 6.65% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays upped their price target on Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 21st. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.50.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $243.78 on Tuesday. Ciena has a 12 month low of $49.21 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 286.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $218.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $158.02.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total transaction of $2,741,522.78. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 49,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,370,344.50. The trade was a 19.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 83,552 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.44, for a total value of $19,170,170.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 307,885 shares in the company, valued at $70,641,134.40. The trade was a 21.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 143,514 shares of company stock valued at $32,235,186. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,286 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $266,000. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth approximately $302,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new stake in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Finally, Three Seasons Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $991,000. Hedge funds and other 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.