Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith Sells 2,952 Shares of Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total transaction of $1,349,123.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 266,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $121,843,817.10. This represents a 1.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ciena Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of CIEN stock traded up $5.61 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $435.91. 2,874,345 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,120,383. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.30 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $73.23 and a 12-month high of $637.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $521.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $368.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter worth about $2,747,810,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 30,114.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $671,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,861,176 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth about $292,310,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Ciena by 53.0% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 1,404,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atreides Management LP bought a new position in Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth about $102,705,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Ciena from $470.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research downgraded Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. B. Riley Financial boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn began 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. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $530.56.

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.