Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price Up 3.5% – What’s Next?

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)’s share price traded up 3.5% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $354.45 and last traded at $344.4280. Approximately 3,019,092 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 4% from the average daily volume of 2,902,306 shares. The stock had previously closed at $332.73.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CIEN shares. CL King set a $347.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $475.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Argus set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ciena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $506.11.

Ciena Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $48.43 billion, a PE ratio of 76.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 3.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $374.30 and a 200 day moving average of $439.96.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, Director Bruce Claflin sold 2,857 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.91, for a total transaction of $1,016,834.87. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,946,578.89. This trade represents a 25.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.19, for a total transaction of $933,794.51. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 57,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,383,643.72. The trade was a 4.38% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,014 shares of company stock worth $13,457,571. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $404,948,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Ciena by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 413,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $160,468,000 after buying an additional 26,900 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 321,825 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $124,942,000 after buying an additional 31,098 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 332,271 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $116,900,000 after buying an additional 12,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Ciena by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 266,384 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $93,719,000 after buying an additional 52,382 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software, and services for communications networks. Its solutions help telecommunications carriers, cloud providers, enterprises, government organizations, and research institutions build, manage, and automate high-capacity networks.

The company’s portfolio includes optical networking systems, routing and switching platforms, network automation software, and network management tools. Ciena also offers consulting, implementation, maintenance, and professional services designed to support network planning, deployment, optimization, and ongoing operations.