Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Given New $660.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) had its target price boosted by research analysts at Bank of America from $550.00 to $660.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.52% from the company’s previous close.

CIEN has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Ciena from $425.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $404.94.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $13.46 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $597.20. The stock had a trading volume of 797,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,996,058. The firm has a market cap of $84.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 380.38, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena has a fifty-two week low of $70.77 and a fifty-two week high of $605.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $483.20 and a 200-day moving average of $331.92.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.The business’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ciena will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total transaction of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,866.40. This represents a 99.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 281,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,909,971.15. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 44,174 shares of company stock valued at $18,878,661. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,747,810,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 30,114.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $671,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,861,176 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $292,310,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $947,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404,132 shares during the period. Finally, Atreides Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $102,705,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.