Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

CIEN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Evercore set a $330.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Ciena from $279.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $444.83.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $535.48 on Wednesday. Ciena has a 1 year low of $70.77 and a 1 year high of $637.51. The company has a market cap of $75.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 341.07 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $515.08 and a 200 day moving average of $353.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 2.14.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total transaction of $2,025,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 46,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,105. This trade represents a 9.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total value of $1,226,585.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 281,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,909,971.15. This represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 44,174 shares of company stock valued at $19,502,359. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the first quarter valued at $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Ciena by 139.6% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 3,061 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $13,419,000 after buying an additional 3,117 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in Ciena by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth about $234,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

More Ciena News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ciena this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Ciena beat fiscal Q2 expectations with $1.64 EPS versus $1.46 expected and $1.57 billion in revenue versus $1.50 billion expected, with sales up 39.5% year over year on AI- and cloud-driven networking demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management said AI-related demand and optical networking adoption are supporting sustained growth, and the company raised its fiscal 2026 revenue outlook to about $6.3 billion from prior expectations. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several reports note that Ciena’s earnings call highlighted AI-fueled growth opportunities in cloud, subsea, and service-provider networks, reinforcing the long-term demand story. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The stock fell because investors appeared to want an even bigger beat-and-raise quarter and stronger forward guidance, suggesting expectations had run ahead of the results. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance concerns weighed on sentiment even after the earnings beat, with multiple outlets saying the outlook did not fully satisfy high investor expectations. Article Title

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.