Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Sells $1,424,260.00 in Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.45, for a total transaction of $1,424,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 261,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,806,781.50. The trade was a 2.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Ciena Trading Up 1.0%

CIEN stock traded up $1.99 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $209.42. 1,118,697 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,391,878. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 215.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $214.17. The business has a 50 day moving average of $157.90 and a 200-day moving average of $109.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.28.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ciena from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $141.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. B. Riley reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $113.00 price objective (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Ciena from $120.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $153.20.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. World Investment Advisors bought a new stake in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $253,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in Ciena by 375.4% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $100,499,000 after buying an additional 975,792 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 516.6% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 18,719 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 15,683 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 322.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 34,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,912,000 after buying an additional 25,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connective Portfolio Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the second quarter worth about $651,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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.