Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $346.55 and last traded at $344.2760, with a volume of 2195983 shares. The stock had previously closed at $334.95.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price target on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $213.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $252.13.

Ciena Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $48.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 405.04, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $255.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $191.37.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total value of $2,741,522.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 49,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,370,344.50. This represents a 19.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 83,552 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.44, for a total value of $19,170,170.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 307,885 shares in the company, valued at $70,641,134.40. This trade represents a 21.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 160,083 shares of company stock worth $37,204,740. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,747,810,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Ciena by 30,114.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $671,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,176 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the third quarter worth approximately $292,310,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $947,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atreides Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $102,705,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena’s product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.