Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $346.55 and last traded at $344.2760, with a volume of 2195983 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $334.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CIEN. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group increased their price target on Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Evercore set a $330.00 price objective on Ciena in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ciena from $213.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Argus upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $252.13.

Ciena Trading Up 2.8%

The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $48.70 billion, a PE ratio of 405.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $255.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.37.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.45, for a total value of $2,642,514.10. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 50,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,414,350.80. This trade represents a 18.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total transaction of $5,300,631.87. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 91,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,747,625.85. This trade represents a 18.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 160,083 shares of company stock worth $37,204,740. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Ciena during the third quarter worth about $1,993,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,726,000. World Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $253,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $426,420,000 after acquiring an additional 359,579 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in Ciena by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 112,011 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,317,000 after purchasing an additional 31,225 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.