Insider Selling: Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Director Sells $1,342,091.52 in Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Director Thomas Nevens sold 3,738 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $359.04, for a total transaction of $1,342,091.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,258,002.56. This represents a 37.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Ciena Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE CIEN traded down $2.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $356.33. 1,616,194 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,879,244. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $138.12 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51. The firm has a market cap of $50.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.30. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $376.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $439.63.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a net margin of 10.87% and a return on equity of 25.33%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Northland Securities set a $550.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 4th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ciena from $508.00 to $394.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Evercore raised shares of Ciena from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $492.68.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Markowski Investments purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth $28,000. Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 2,100.0% during the 1st quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 88 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 57.8% during the second quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Ciena by 635.7% during the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 103 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software and services for communications networks. Its solutions help service providers, cloud companies, enterprises and government organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support broadband, cloud computing, data center interconnection and other digital services.

The company’s product portfolio includes optical networking systems, coherent optical technology, routers, switches, network control and automation software, and network management tools.