Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Ciena's stock hit a new 52-week high of $166.39 after **BNP Paribas Exane** upgraded the stock to an **outperform rating** with a price target of **$185.00**.
• Multiple analysts are optimistic about Ciena, with a consensus target price of **$137.53** based on ratings that include **three "Strong Buy"** ratings and **eleven "Buy"** ratings.
• Insider trading activity showed that CEO Gary B. Smith recently sold **6,800 shares**, bringing the total insider ownership to **0.93%** of the stock.

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday after BNP Paribas Exane upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to an outperform rating. BNP Paribas Exane now has a $185.00 price target on the stock. Ciena traded as high as $166.39 and last traded at $165.55, with a volume of 1396983 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $155.94.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on CIEN. B. Riley reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $113.00 price target (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ciena from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $100.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Friday. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 price target on shares of Ciena and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $127.50 to $175.00 in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $137.53.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.23, for a total value of $559,164.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 325,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,770,552.11. The trade was a 2.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total transaction of $262,943.82. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. This trade represents a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,724 shares of company stock worth $5,336,431. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 50.0% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its stake in Ciena by 34.7% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Ciena by 107.5% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Ciena by 15.4% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena during the first quarter worth about $86,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52. The company has a market capitalization of $23.48 billion, a PE ratio of 171.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.15. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $118.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.74.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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