Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Sells $1,587,528.00 in Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.46, for a total value of $1,587,528.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 391,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,384,882.02. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Ciena Stock Down 2.0%

NYSE:CIEN traded down $4.83 on Monday, reaching $236.85. The stock had a trading volume of 625,706 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,523,202. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $201.29 and a 200 day moving average of $139.69. The stock has a market cap of $33.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 279.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.17. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $248.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The business’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Community Bank N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 104.0% in the third quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $31,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.50.

Ciena Company Profile

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.