Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Receives $85.54 Average Price Target from Analysts

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $85.54.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock traded up $0.59 during trading on Thursday, reaching $87.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,708,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,101,965. The business's 50-day moving average price is $79.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.88. The firm has a market cap of $12.35 billion, a PE ratio of 121.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena has a 52 week low of $44.89 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. The company's revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $488,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 368,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,522,472. This trade represents a 1.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,269 shares of company stock worth $3,306,811 over the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,943 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,861,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 73.1% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 36,968 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,135,000 after buying an additional 15,612 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 44,711 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,792,000 after buying an additional 669 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,485,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 65.1% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 38,023 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,225,000 after purchasing an additional 14,994 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.