Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $221.85, but opened at $236.35. Ciena shares last traded at $231.3330, with a volume of 3,246,580 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Ciena from $140.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $152.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.73.

Ciena Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $33.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 245.78, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $185.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $126.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter. Ciena had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 3.10%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total value of $59,276.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 40,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,884,992.08. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total value of $1,309,748.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 254,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,090,510.70. This represents a 2.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 51,935 shares of company stock worth $8,707,266. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 28.6% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 48,879 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,954,000 after acquiring an additional 10,856 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Ciena by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 306,306 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $18,510,000 after purchasing an additional 20,307 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 20.3% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 328,595 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $19,857,000 after purchasing an additional 55,402 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 15.4% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 4.2% during the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 25,322 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,530,000 after buying an additional 1,022 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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.