Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price Down 10.4% Following Insider Selling

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) shares fell 10.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $356.78 and last traded at $358.9410. 3,308,289 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 14% from the average daily volume of 2,896,721 shares. The stock had previously closed at $400.40.

Specifically, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.66, for a total value of $1,091,236.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 228,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,432,931.62. This represents a 1.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Evercore upgraded shares of Ciena from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, September 21st. Zacks Research raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Argus set a $550.00 target price on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $506.11.

Ciena Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $379.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $441.56. The firm has a market cap of $50.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.12, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a current ratio of 3.80.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at $881,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter worth approximately $519,000. Ring Mountain Capital LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC now owns 1,946 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Heffernan Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 104.0% during the 3rd quarter. Heffernan Advisory Inc. now owns 1,020 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its position in Ciena by 16.1% in the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 12,417 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $4,369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,724 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation is a networking technology company that provides communications infrastructure, software and services for telecommunications providers, cloud operators, enterprises, governments and research institutions. Its solutions are designed to help organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support applications such as cloud computing, broadband connectivity, data center interconnection and 5G services.

The company’s portfolio includes optical networking systems and coherent optical technologies, routing and switching platforms, broadband access solutions, network management software and professional services.