Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Sells $284,545.28 in Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Jason Phipps sold 1,984 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.42, for a total transaction of $284,545.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 80,244 shares in the company, valued at $11,508,594.48. This trade represents a 2.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Ciena Trading Up 4.8%

NYSE:CIEN traded up $9.74 on Thursday, hitting $213.64. The stock had a trading volume of 1,625,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,532,032. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $191.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $131.53. The stock has a market cap of $30.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 250.67, a PEG ratio of 1.22 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 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $248.00.

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. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 price target on shares of Ciena and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, December 11th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One investment 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $292,310,000. Atreides Management LP acquired a new position in Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $102,705,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $941,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,787 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2,174.2% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,143,855 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $166,625,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 3,577.9% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 1,004,323 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ciena

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.