Insider Selling: Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Sells 6,800 Shares of Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.89, for a total value of $543,252.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 362,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,926,571.20. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $79.88 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $66.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.90. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.69 and a fifty-two week high of $101.44. The firm has a market cap of $11.36 billion, a PE ratio of 140.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.11.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 108.6% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 328.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 73.7% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in Ciena by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Ciena from $73.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.62.

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.