Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Ciena Trading Down 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.91. The company has a market capitalization of $13.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 169.54, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.89.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results 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). Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 1.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 33,074 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $245,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,039,000. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,988,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 108,407 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.