Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on CIEN. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Evercore ISI set a $240.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Citigroup raised their price target on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.50.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $240.06 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $33.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 282.42, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $198.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.86. Ciena has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $248.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total transaction of $262,943.82. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 43,531 shares in the company, valued at $6,143,965.34. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.84, for a total value of $121,462.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 39,992 shares in the company, valued at $8,831,833.28. This trade represents a 1.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 47,412 shares of company stock valued at $8,877,100 in the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,088,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,227,143,000 after buying an additional 103,199 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Ciena by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $941,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,787 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 10.4% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 35.0% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,708,540 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $220,286,000 after purchasing an additional 702,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter worth $292,310,000. 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.