Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Zacks Research lowered shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Citigroup lifted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upped their price target on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $530.56.

Ciena Trading Up 5.2%

NYSE CIEN opened at $411.04 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.18 billion, a PE ratio of 137.01 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $449.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $417.02. 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 has a 12 month low of $84.41 and a 12 month high of $637.51.

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 expect that Ciena will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $58,741.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 126,955 shares in the company, valued at $59,186,421. The trade was a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $379.81, for a total transaction of $1,121,199.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 248,982 shares in the company, valued at $94,565,853.42. This trade represents a 1.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,627 shares of company stock worth $10,508,776. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $2,747,810,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 2,861,176 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Ciena by 53.0% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 1,404,132 shares during the last quarter. Atreides Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth about $102,705,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Ciena by 2,174.2% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,143,855 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $166,625,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,557 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently 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.