Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Sells $784,051.20 in Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.60, for a total value of $784,051.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 301,940 shares in the company, valued at $80,195,264. The trade was a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN traded down $22.77 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $253.75. The stock had a trading volume of 5,311,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,603,711. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.74 billion, a PE ratio of 298.53, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.09. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.21 and a 12 month high of $285.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $230.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.86.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. BNP Paribas Exane set a $185.00 price target on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 price objective on Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.67.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Community Bank N.A. bought a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 50.4% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 104.0% in the third quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

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.