Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Coverage Initiated at Wolfe Research

Investment analysts at Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm set an "outperform" rating on the communications equipment provider's stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 target price (up previously from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $84.08.

Ciena Stock Down 1.0%

CIEN stock traded down $0.84 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $79.29. The stock had a trading volume of 872,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,370,115. Ciena has a 1-year low of $44.89 and a 1-year high of $101.44. The company has a current ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $11.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.07, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $77.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.02.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total value of $187,162.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,829,056.50. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.60, for a total transaction of $25,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 45,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,331,105.80. This trade represents a 0.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,919 shares of company stock worth $3,115,199 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 108.6% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 328.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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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