Weiss Ratings Reiterates Hold (C) Rating for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN)

Key Points

• Weiss Ratings has reaffirmed a Hold (C) rating for Ciena (NYSE:CIEN), highlighting stability in the company's stock performance.
• Ciena's stock saw a significant price increase, trading up $6.95 to reach $179.53 during recent trading sessions.
• Equities analysts have raised their price targets for Ciena, with estimates reaching as high as $140.00, indicating a generally positive outlook for the company's share performance.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c)" rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Weiss Ratings in a report issued on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

CIEN has been the subject of several other reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. B. Riley restated a "neutral" rating and set a $113.00 price target (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ciena from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $100.00 to $140.00 in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $137.53.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded up $6.95 during trading on Friday, reaching $179.53. The company had a trading volume of 1,851,312 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,475,945. The firm's fifty day moving average is $133.51 and its 200 day moving average is $97.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.32 billion, a PE ratio of 185.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.15. Ciena has a twelve month low of $49.21 and a twelve month high of $181.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.28.

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 for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The company had revenue of $844.44 million during the quarter. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total transaction of $59,276.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 40,653 shares in the company, valued at $6,884,992.08. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total transaction of $262,943.82. Following the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,374 shares of company stock worth $5,936,444. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,475 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $943,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,071 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,889 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $712,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in Ciena by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,981 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. 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.

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