Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Trading Up 11.9% – Time to Buy?

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) was up 11.9% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $446.36 and last traded at $433.49. Approximately 3,974,880 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 35% from the average daily volume of 2,953,594 shares. The stock had previously closed at $387.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 target price on the stock. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $530.56.

Ciena Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $62.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 148.01 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $425.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $425.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The firm’s revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total value of $1,225,639.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 62,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,082,488.40. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total transaction of $1,349,123.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 266,605 shares in the company, valued at $121,843,817.10. This trade represents a 1.10% 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,475 shares of company stock worth $8,164,824. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth about $2,747,810,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,102,409 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,193,300,000 after purchasing an additional 750,128 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $947,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,132 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Ciena by 10.4% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $284,313,000 after purchasing an additional 329,821 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 30,114.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $671,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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.