Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Sets New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Ciena's stock price reached a new 52-week high of $119.82 after an analyst upgrade from Stifel Nicolaus, raising the price target from $90 to $100.
• Research analysts have varied opinions on Ciena, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $88.08.
• Institutional investors own 91.99% of Ciena's stock, highlighting significant interest from larger financial entities in the communications equipment provider.

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $90.00 to $100.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Ciena traded as high as $115.01 and last traded at $119.82, with a volume of 454810 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $94.82.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on CIEN. Northland Securities set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $78.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ciena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price target (up previously from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $88.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total value of $187,162.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 84,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,829,056.50. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.94, for a total transaction of $31,829.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 43,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,934,791.92. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,769 shares of company stock worth $3,326,705 in the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Ciena by 157.9% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 111,536 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $9,459,000 after buying an additional 68,285 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Ciena by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,227,020 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $273,684,000 after buying an additional 49,996 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Ciena by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,139 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,454,000 after buying an additional 7,440 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Ciena by 60.3% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,745 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,081,000 after buying an additional 4,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth about $763,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Trading Up 22.2%

The company's 50-day moving average is $87.96 and its 200-day moving average is $76.98. The firm has a market cap of $16.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 161.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40.

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