Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price Up 8.8% – What’s Next?

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) traded up 8.8% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $484.54 and last traded at $479.6120. Approximately 332,923 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 3,113,867 shares. The stock had previously closed at $440.97.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target 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. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ciena from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Ciena Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $508.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $395.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The stock has a market cap of $66.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 155.52 and a beta of 1.27.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total transaction of $559,320.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,921,580.10. This trade represents a 2.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $739,599.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 42,872 shares in the company, valued at $19,992,499.76. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 22,827 shares of company stock valued at $11,541,133. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 1.8% in the first quarter. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC now owns 1,142 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.8% in the first quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $654,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 9.5% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 358 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,107 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,194,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 71.0% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.