Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Short Interest Update

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,750,000 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the August 15th total of 4,830,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,560,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days. Currently, 4.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Ciena Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of CIEN traded up $1.64 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $56.17. The company had a trading volume of 1,409,565 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,763,932. Ciena has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $63.24. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.01, a P/E/G ratio of 6.86 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total transaction of $130,962.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 96,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,635,840. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value of $130,962.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 96,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,635,840. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total value of $170,835.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 212,421 shares in the company, valued at $10,368,269.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its stake in Ciena by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 26,281 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 4.6% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,404 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 17.4% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 3,465 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the period. Lumbard & Kellner LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.9% during the second quarter. Lumbard & Kellner LLC now owns 65,799 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,170,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Ciena by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 30,862 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after buying an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.15.

About Ciena

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.