Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Trading Down 3.1% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) traded down 3.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $422.49 and last traded at $428.9240. 2,513,931 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 15% from the average daily volume of 2,951,541 shares. The stock had previously closed at $442.79.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, May 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ciena from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $530.56.

Ciena Trading Down 3.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.97 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $425.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $425.57.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total transaction of $559,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 42,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,921,580.10. This represents a 2.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $739,599.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,872 shares in the company, valued at $19,992,499.76. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 17,475 shares of company stock valued at $8,164,824 in the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at $2,747,810,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 30,114.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $671,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,176 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 53.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $947,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,132 shares during the last quarter. Atreides Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at $102,705,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Ciena by 2,174.2% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,143,855 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $166,625,000 after buying an additional 1,093,557 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

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.