Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN – Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

CIEN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. Northland Securities increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $40.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, December 9th. MKM Partners raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, December 9th. Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $71.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, December 9th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Friday, December 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $64.00.

Ciena Stock Down 2.8 %

Ciena stock opened at $49.44 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.54 and a current ratio of 3.70. Ciena has a one year low of $38.33 and a one year high of $61.97.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $959.04 million. Ciena had a net margin of 4.77% and a return on equity of 8.22%. Ciena’s revenue was up 25.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ciena will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 21,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.31, for a total transaction of $1,615,276.47. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $946,114.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 3,541 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.49, for a total value of $185,867.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 491,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,774,059.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 21,737 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.31, for a total transaction of $1,615,276.47. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $946,114.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 68,235 shares of company stock valued at $3,933,143. 0.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 5.4% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 20,941 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 5.7% in the second quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 4,774 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Ciena by 61.8% in the third quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 35,989 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,455,000 after buying an additional 13,745 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in Ciena by 21.4% in the second quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,618 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 1,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 29.4% in the second quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 29,782 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,361,000 after buying an additional 6,761 shares during the last quarter. 96.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ciena

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Ciena Corp. engages in the provision of network and communication infrastructure. It operates through the following segments: Networking Platforms, Platform Software and Services, Blue Planet Automation Software and Services, and Global Services. The Networking Platforms segment consists of Converged Packet Optical and Packet Networking portfolios.