Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $81.23.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd.

Ciena Stock Down 13.0%

Shares of CIEN stock traded down $10.87 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $73.02. 11,618,303 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,080,605. Ciena has a fifty-two week low of $44.69 and a fifty-two week high of $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The company has a market capitalization of $10.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 128.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.12. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $69.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.76.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total value of $1,131,013.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,344,769.04. The trade was a 17.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.67, for a total transaction of $27,534.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 46,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,637,150.11. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,788 shares of company stock worth $3,431,319 over the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,978 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 108.6% in the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $887,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company's Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.