Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $88.68, but opened at $93.00. Ciena shares last traded at $94.57, with a volume of 599,465 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on CIEN. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Ciena Stock Up 5.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $13.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 162.88, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55.

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

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total transaction of $30,068.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares in the company, valued at $4,256,582.77. This represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 50,781 shares of company stock worth $4,298,500. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ciena by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $148,348,000 after acquiring an additional 33,074 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,039,000. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,988,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,334,290,000 after buying an additional 108,407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 119.6% during the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 239,389 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $14,744,000 after purchasing an additional 130,399 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently 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.