Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith Sells 2,993 Shares

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.65, for a total value of $741,216.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 304,892 shares in the company, valued at $75,506,503.80. The trade was a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock traded down $1.11 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $242.31. 1,198,943 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,492,151. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.73. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.21 and a 12 month high of $261.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $218.67 and its 200 day moving average is $158.02. The stock has a market cap of $34.13 billion, a PE ratio of 285.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.13.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth about $292,310,000. Atreides Management LP acquired a new position in Ciena in the second quarter worth approximately $102,705,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Ciena by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $941,451,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,787 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Ciena by 2,174.2% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,143,855 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $166,625,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Ciena by 3,577.9% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,032,393 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $83,965,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,323 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CIEN. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 price target on Ciena and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 21st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, Northland Securities set a $190.00 target price on Ciena and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.50.

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.