Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $562.00 and last traded at $544.6940, with a volume of 1627899 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $538.51.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, March 5th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Ciena in a report on Thursday, March 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Ciena from $430.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.56.

Ciena Trading Up 1.1%

The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $77.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 346.94, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $418.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $293.85.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.Ciena’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.79, for a total value of $566,148.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 45,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,297,072.39. This represents a 2.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total value of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,866.40. This trade represents a 99.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 42,974 shares of company stock valued at $17,418,863 in the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 71.0% in the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.