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

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $65.56, but opened at $69.08. Ciena shares last traded at $67.85, with a volume of 79,497 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Ciena Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $80.04 and a 200 day moving average of $73.98. The company has a market cap of $9.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total transaction of $1,137,776.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 425,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,618,161.34. This represents a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total value of $478,046.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 109,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,300,073.92. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,742 shares of company stock worth $5,469,173. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 1.4% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $245,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $421,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Ciena by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,334,290,000 after buying an additional 108,407 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.