Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 13th, there was short interest totaling 5,619,035 shares, a growth of 32.4% from the January 29th total of 4,244,185 shares. Approximately 4.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,414,906 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.9 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,414,906 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.9 days. Approximately 4.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on CIEN. Citigroup boosted their price target on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Evercore set a $330.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $213.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $250.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $260.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total value of $1,921,741.64. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,116,746.52. This represents a 47.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total value of $2,741,522.78. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 49,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,370,344.50. This represents a 19.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 160,083 shares of company stock worth $37,204,740 over the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at about $1,993,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the third quarter valued at about $1,726,000. World Investment Advisors acquired a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $253,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $426,420,000 after acquiring an additional 359,579 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 112,011 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $16,317,000 after acquiring an additional 31,225 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $5.36 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $354.06. 2,525,516 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,445,028. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The company’s 50 day moving average is $266.29 and its 200 day moving average is $198.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 416.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.07. Ciena has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $365.90.

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 net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

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.