Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $492.68

Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $492.68.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Evercore upgraded Ciena from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, September 21st. CL King set a $347.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Argus set a $550.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 10th.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $356.33 on Tuesday. Ciena has a 12-month low of $138.12 and a 12-month high of $637.51. The firm has a market cap of $50.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day moving average is $375.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $439.05. The company has a current ratio of 3.80, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 10.87% and a return on equity of 25.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ciena will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 4,995 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.72, for a total transaction of $2,151,446.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 107,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,310,583.68. This represents a 4.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.78, for a total transaction of $1,321,846.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 246,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,167,313.40. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. 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 sold a total of 27,448 shares of company stock valued at $11,040,755 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Markowski Investments purchased a new position in Ciena during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Asset Dedication LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 2,100.0% during the 1st quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 88 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 57.8% during the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 635.7% during the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 103 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter worth $49,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software and services for communications networks. Its solutions help service providers, cloud companies, enterprises and government organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support broadband, cloud computing, data center interconnection and other digital services.

The company’s product portfolio includes optical networking systems, coherent optical technology, routers, switches, network control and automation software, and network management tools.