Analysts at Citigroup Inc. started coverage on shares of Ciena Co. (NASDAQ:CIEN) in a report released on Wednesday, The Fly reports. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, January 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ciena from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 12th. Jefferies Group upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $22.50 to $25.00 in a research report on Monday, December 21st. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $26.28.

Shares of Ciena (NASDAQ:CIEN) opened at 18.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 182.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $19.56 and a 200 day moving average of $22.52. Ciena has a 12 month low of $16.63 and a 12 month high of $26.50.

Ciena (NASDAQ:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 10th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $692 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $683.56 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.08) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ciena will post $1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Other large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust boosted its stake in Ciena by 91.0% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust now owns 742,304 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,358,000 after buying an additional 353,720 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers Inc. PA boosted its stake in Ciena by 85.5% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisers Inc. PA now owns 706,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,628,000 after buying an additional 325,933 shares in the last quarter. Marcus Capital purchased a new stake in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,155,000. Creative Planning boosted its stake in Ciena by 37.6% in the fourth quarter. Creative Planning now owns 58,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,205,000 after buying an additional 15,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantitative Systematic Strategies boosted its stake in Ciena by 103.9% in the fourth quarter. Quantitative Systematic Strategies now owns 56,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after buying an additional 28,754 shares in the last quarter.

In related news, CFO James E. Moylan, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.04, for a total value of $25,040.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 376,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,428,386.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,537 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.34, for a total transaction of $110,430.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 545,483 shares in the company, valued at $13,277,056.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ:CIEN) is a provider of communications networking equipment, software and services that support the transport, switching, aggregation and management of voice, video and data traffic. The Company operates in four segments: converged packet optical, packet networking, optical transport, and software and services. Its service provider customers include regional, national and international, wire line and wireless carriers. Its cable operator customers include cable and multiservice operators in the United States and internationally. Its Blue Planet Division provides multi-vendor network management software and service orchestration solutions. Its Blue Planet product portfolio includes software applications, including Planet Orchestrate and Planet Operate, as well as its software-defined networking (SDN) multilayer wide area network (WAN) controller and its applications, V-WAN, Agility Matrix and network management solutions.

12 Month Chart for NASDAQ:CIEN

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