Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Director Sells $2,642,514.10 in Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.45, for a total value of $2,642,514.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 50,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,414,350.80. This trade represents a 18.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Ciena Stock Up 5.1%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded up $12.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $246.28. 1,649,835 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,889,103. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.31. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $261.13. The company has a market cap of $34.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 289.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.13. 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 (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $292,310,000. Atreides Management LP acquired a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $102,705,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ciena by 23.3% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2,174.2% during 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 buying an additional 1,093,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position 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 valued at $83,965,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,323 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CIEN. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price target on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ciena from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $270.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.50.

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.