Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Downgraded by Northland Capmk to “Hold”

Northland Capmk cut shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. B. Riley reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 price target on Ciena and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ciena from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.38.

Ciena Trading Down 9.7%

CIEN opened at $218.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $30.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 257.43, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company’s 50 day moving average is $188.43 and its 200-day moving average is $128.51. Ciena has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $248.00.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total transaction of $1,309,748.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 254,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,090,510.70. This represents a 2.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was 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 $7,653,914.88. This trade represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 51,935 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,266 over the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.