Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Sells $543,252.00 in Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.89, for a total value of $543,252.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Ciena Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded down $0.40 during trading on Monday, hitting $80.84. The company had a trading volume of 468,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,029,455. The stock has a market cap of $11.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $44.69 and a one year high of $101.44. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $245,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $421,000. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,071 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,491 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 59.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,056 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $174,000 after acquiring an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CIEN. Barclays set a $100.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 price target (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target 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, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.