Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $95.27 and last traded at $94.82, with a volume of 3401911 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.68.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on CIEN. Northland Securities upped their price objective on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Ciena Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $79.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.35. The company has a market cap of $13.48 billion, a PE ratio of 166.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total transaction of $311,815.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 192,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,194,102.73. This represents a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,781 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,500 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Ciena by 424.4% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Company Profile

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.