Insider Selling: Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Sells $1,309,748.00 in Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total value of $1,309,748.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 254,870 shares in the company, valued at $49,090,510.70. This represents a 2.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Ciena Trading Up 2.9%

Ciena stock opened at $201.33 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $181.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.20. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $214.17. The stock has a market cap of $28.40 billion, a PE ratio of 207.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Equities research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Ciena by 28.6% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 48,879 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,954,000 after acquiring an additional 10,856 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,978 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $663,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 12,868 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 478,550 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,919,000 after purchasing an additional 14,870 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Ciena by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 306,306 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $18,510,000 after purchasing an additional 20,307 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Ciena from $140.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Ciena from $120.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group increased their target price on Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.53.

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.