Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $600.00 price target on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 30.48% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CIEN. B. Riley Financial raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $459.82 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $519.19 and its 200 day moving average is $375.02. Ciena has a fifty-two week low of $73.55 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.09 billion, a PE ratio of 153.28 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.Ciena’s revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total transaction of $1,226,585.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 281,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,909,971.15. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total value of $559,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,921,580.10. The trade was a 2.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 40,374 shares of company stock worth $18,324,470 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the first quarter valued at about $10,883,000. Wealth High Governance Asset Management Ltda. bought a new position in Ciena during the 1st quarter worth about $9,293,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Ciena by 26.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,663 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,022,000 after purchasing an additional 4,338 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Ciena by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,243 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 80.0% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,356,000 after purchasing an additional 6,132 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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.