Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Climb 3.3% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Ciena shares rose 3.3% to approximately $391.81 in Friday’s trading, supported by largely positive analyst sentiment. The stock carries a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $490.05.
• Ciena reported quarterly EPS of $2.11, beating estimates of $1.73, while revenue reached $1.67 billion and increased 37% year over year.
• Institutional investors own nearly 92% of Ciena’s shares, although insiders have sold $9.96 million worth of stock over the past 90 days.

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) rose 3.3% during mid-day trading on Friday. The company traded as high as $395.96 and last traded at $391.8090. Approximately 2,516,000 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 12% from the average session volume of 2,865,771 shares. The stock had previously closed at $379.14.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Evercore raised Ciena from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, September 21st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Ciena from $508.00 to $394.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $490.05.

Ciena Stock Up 3.3%

The business's fifty day simple moving average is $372.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $440.45. The company has a market cap of $55.56 billion, a PE ratio of 87.46, a PEG ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 3.80 and a quick ratio of 3.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a net margin of 10.87% and a return on equity of 25.33%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bruce Claflin sold 2,857 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.91, for a total value of $1,016,834.87. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,279 shares in the company, valued at $2,946,578.89. The trade was a 25.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 4,995 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.72, for a total value of $2,151,446.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 107,519 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,310,583.68. The trade was a 4.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 26,184 shares of company stock worth $9,957,835 in the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 445,359 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $104,156,000 after purchasing an additional 155,712 shares in the last quarter. TKG Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the first quarter valued at about $3,244,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Ciena by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 413,332 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $160,468,000 after purchasing an additional 26,900 shares during the last quarter. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $10,883,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 983.2% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 17,168 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $6,665,000 after buying an additional 15,583 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation is a networking technology company that provides communications infrastructure, software and services for telecommunications providers, cloud operators, enterprises, governments and research institutions. Its solutions are designed to help organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support applications such as cloud computing, broadband connectivity, data center interconnection and 5G services.

The company's portfolio includes optical networking systems and coherent optical technologies, routing and switching platforms, broadband access solutions, network management software and professional services.

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