Insider Selling: Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) EVP Sells $412,896.00 in Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) EVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.08, for a total value of $412,896.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 34,073 shares in the company, valued at $11,723,837.84. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Brodie Gage also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 15th, Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of Ciena stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.86, for a total transaction of $389,832.00.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $361.11 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 3.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.21 billion, a PE ratio of 80.60, a P/E/G ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 1.28. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $159.56 and a twelve month high of $637.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $372.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $439.35.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 10.87% and a return on equity of 25.33%. The company’s revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Ciena during the second quarter worth about $404,948,000. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 413,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $160,468,000 after acquiring an additional 26,900 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 332,271 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $116,900,000 after acquiring an additional 12,986 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 321,825 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $124,942,000 after acquiring an additional 31,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 24.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 266,384 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $93,719,000 after purchasing an additional 52,382 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $440.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. B. Riley Financial reduced their price target on Ciena from $516.00 to $413.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 31st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Ciena from $508.00 to $394.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $506.11.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software, and services for communications networks. Its solutions help telecommunications carriers, cloud providers, enterprises, government organizations, and research institutions build, manage, and automate high-capacity networks.

The company’s portfolio includes optical networking systems, routing and switching platforms, network automation software, and network management tools. Ciena also offers consulting, implementation, maintenance, and professional services designed to support network planning, deployment, optimization, and ongoing operations.