Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Ciena (NYSE:CIEN)

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 3,297 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 50% compared to the typical volume of 2,191 call options.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $45.02 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 4.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $6.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.99. Ciena has a 12-month low of $39.94 and a 12-month high of $63.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $51.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.18.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 70,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.11, for a total transaction of $3,833,044.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 424,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,942,964.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $26,442.13. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,052,464.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 70,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.11, for a total transaction of $3,833,044.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 424,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,942,964.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 107,189 shares of company stock valued at $5,754,880. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LHM Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 199.7% in the 1st quarter. LHM Inc. now owns 51,057 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,525,000 after purchasing an additional 34,020 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 13.7% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 611,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,237,000 after buying an additional 73,505 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 73.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 30,814 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,524,000 after buying an additional 13,095 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the first quarter worth $301,000. Finally, Deepwater Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the first quarter worth $1,587,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set a “sell” rating and a $44.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.79.

About Ciena

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.