Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Ciena Corporation has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from seventeen brokerages, with a target price of $114.32.
• Recent analyst upgrades include Wolfe Research's "strong buy" rating and UBS's target price increase to $120.00.
• Insider trading activity includes significant stock sales by both SVP Joseph Cumello and CEO Gary B. Smith in the past month.

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $114.3214.

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $100.00 to $127.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $113.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 5th.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total transaction of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at $3,853,244.72. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.23, for a total value of $559,164.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 325,557 shares in the company, valued at $26,770,552.11. The trade was a 2.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,769 shares of company stock worth $3,326,705 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Ciena by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 34.7% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 66.7% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its stake in Ciena by 9,162.5% in the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 741 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $132.72 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.72 billion, a PE ratio of 136.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $92.98 and a 200-day moving average of $78.50. Ciena has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $134.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52.

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.

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