Insider Selling: Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Sells $5,300,631.87 in Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total transaction of $5,300,631.87. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 91,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,747,625.85. This represents a 18.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Ciena Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $229.82 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $220.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $160.14. The company has a market cap of $32.37 billion, a PE ratio of 270.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. Ciena’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Ciena by 0.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,088,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,227,143,000 after buying an additional 103,199 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,787 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $284,313,000 after acquiring an additional 329,821 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 35.0% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,708,540 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $220,286,000 after acquiring an additional 702,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $292,310,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.67.

Trending Headlines about Ciena

Here are the key news stories impacting Ciena this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Stifel Nicolaus raised its price target to $280 and kept a “buy” rating, signaling material upside vs. recent levels and providing a near-term bullish catalyst. Stifel raises CIEN target
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted CIEN as a top momentum/growth pick (Rank #1 / Strong Buy), which can attract momentum-driven retail and quant flows. Zacks: CIEN momentum pick
• Neutral Sentiment: Bank of America published a Neutral rating on CIEN (coverage note), which limits downside but does not provide a clear buy signal for investors looking for conviction. BofA Neutral on CIEN
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader hedge-fund and media coverage has increased visibility for CIEN, but recent roundups do not show a material, coordinated position change. Hedge fund roundup mentioning CIEN
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling: SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares (~$5.3M) and CEO Gary Smith sold 2,993 shares (~$741k) in mid‑January — large insider disposals can spook short‑term traders despite executives retaining large stakes. Phipps sells CIEN CEO sells CIEN
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America flagged rising AI‑spending risk for networking names and cut/downgraded tone on CIEN, raising near‑term growth and spending concerns for some investors. BofA: AI spending risks

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.