Insider Selling: Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Sells 83,552 Shares of Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 83,552 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.44, for a total transaction of $19,170,170.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 307,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,641,134.40. This represents a 21.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Ciena Trading Up 10.1%

CIEN traded up $23.22 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $254.12. The stock had a trading volume of 3,452,795 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,884,474. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $208.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 298.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $254.82. 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 (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities lifted 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Northland Capmk cut shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ciena from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,996 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,168,000 after buying an additional 925 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Ciena by 94.3% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,395 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Ciena by 93.1% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 977 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in Ciena by 80.2% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 6,635 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $967,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WBI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $458,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.