Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Up 14.2% – Still a Buy?

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) shares rose 14.2% on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $446.37 and last traded at $444.9260. Approximately 6,369,217 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 121% from the average session volume of 2,882,074 shares. The stock had previously closed at $389.69.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. CL King set a $347.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Ciena in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $440.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.05.

Ciena Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $372.86 and a 200-day moving average of $440.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.09 billion, a PE ratio of 99.31, a P/E/G ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a current ratio of 3.80.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, Director Thomas Nevens sold 3,738 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $359.04, for a total value of $1,342,091.52. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,258,002.56. This trade represents a 37.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.52, for a total value of $568,612.72. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,570 shares in the company, valued at $14,186,636.40. This trade represents a 3.85% 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 have sold a total of 26,184 shares of company stock worth $9,957,835 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 30,114.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $671,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,861,176 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Ciena by 95.6% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,236,835 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $523,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092,980 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Ciena by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,868,881 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $437,075,000 after purchasing an additional 31,900 shares in the last quarter. Atreides Management LP lifted its stake in Ciena by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Atreides Management LP now owns 1,428,230 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $334,020,000 after purchasing an additional 27,466 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Ciena during the second quarter worth about $404,948,000. 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.