Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $77.62.

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $89.00 target price (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price target on Ciena from $73.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total value of $31,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,601.52. The trade was a 0.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $488,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 368,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,522,472. This represents a 1.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,288 shares of company stock valued at $3,211,852. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,316,640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,299,004,000 after acquiring an additional 139,941 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,236,920 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $444,143,000 after purchasing an additional 17,447 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 195.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,626,153 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $392,345,000 after purchasing an additional 3,062,883 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,227,020 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $273,684,000 after purchasing an additional 49,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,419,947 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $205,301,000 after purchasing an additional 11,933 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $0.93 during trading on Friday, reaching $80.46. The stock had a trading volume of 618,606 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,023,008. 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 business's 50-day moving average price is $64.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.34. The company has a market cap of $11.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 141.13, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.11.

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.