Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $44.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price objective (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $84.08.

Ciena Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded down $1.47 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $78.66. 3,457,840 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,124,757. The business's 50-day moving average price is $77.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.04. Ciena has a 12 month low of $44.89 and a 12 month high of $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.11.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced 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). Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.19, for a total transaction of $504,492.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 348,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,853,731.20. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total transaction of $187,162.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 84,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,829,056.50. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,919 shares of company stock worth $3,115,199 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,316,640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,299,004,000 after purchasing an additional 139,941 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,236,920 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $444,143,000 after buying an additional 17,447 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 195.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,626,153 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $392,345,000 after buying an additional 3,062,883 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,419,947 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $205,301,000 after acquiring an additional 11,933 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.