Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Director Sells $1,921,741.64 in Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total transaction of $1,921,741.64. Following the sale, the director directly owned 9,422 shares in the company, valued at $2,116,746.52. The trade was a 47.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Ciena Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of Ciena stock traded down $6.58 on Wednesday, reaching $203.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,694,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,532,818. The company has a market capitalization of $28.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 239.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $248.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $131.02.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.50.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter worth $292,310,000. Atreides Management LP bought a new stake in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth $102,705,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 worth $941,451,000 after buying an additional 1,219,787 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,093,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company’s Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.