BNP Paribas Upgrades Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) to "Outperform"

Key Points

• Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) has been upgraded from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating by BNP Paribas, indicating increased confidence in the company's performance.
• Other analysts have also raised their ratings and price targets for Ciena, with UBS increasing its target from $78 to $120, and Bank of America boosting it from $135 to $155.
• The stock has a "Moderate Buy" average rating from analysts, with an average target price of $137.53, reflecting positive sentiment amid recent strong earnings and guidance.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at BNP Paribas from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Zacks Research raised Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ciena from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $140.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $137.53.

Ciena Trading Up 5.8%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $164.98 on Monday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $119.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52. Ciena has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $167.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 170.08, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.15.

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

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total transaction of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at $7,653,914.88. This trade represents a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,224 shares of company stock worth $4,719,468 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Atreides Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth $102,705,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter worth $70,065,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 3,577.9% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,032,393 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $83,965,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,323 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 375.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $100,499,000 after acquiring an additional 975,792 shares during the period. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 546.9% in the 2nd quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP now owns 997,425 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $81,106,000 after acquiring an additional 843,235 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.