Insider Selling: Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Sells 2,952 Shares of Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total transaction of $1,349,123.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 266,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $121,843,817.10. This represents a 1.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ciena Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE CIEN traded up $5.61 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $435.91. 2,874,345 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,120,383. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The company has a market cap of $61.70 billion, a PE ratio of 145.30 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $521.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $368.39. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $73.23 and a 52 week high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 2,100.0% in the 1st quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 88 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 635.7% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 103 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 71.0% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 1st quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in Ciena by 85.5% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 141 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $470.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Evercore set a $330.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $530.56.

About Ciena

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.