Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith Sells 6,800 Shares

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

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded up $1.99 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $209.42. 1,118,697 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,391,878. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $157.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.03. The company has a market cap of $29.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 215.91, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $844.44 million during the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $127.50 to $175.00 in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $153.20.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 104.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter worth $39,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.