Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith Sells 2,952 Shares

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.83, for a total transaction of $1,383,986.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 254,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,498,203.38. This trade represents a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ciena Stock Up 2.7%

NYSE CIEN traded up $11.54 during trading on Monday, reaching $434.00. 1,310,485 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,158,356. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $76.89 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.43 billion, a PE ratio of 144.67 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $513.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $390.84.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Northland Securities set a $450.00 price objective on Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 price objective for the company. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at $2,747,810,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Ciena by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,102,409 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,193,300,000 after purchasing an additional 750,128 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Ciena by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $947,554,000 after buying an additional 1,404,132 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 10.4% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $284,313,000 after buying an additional 329,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 30,114.5% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $671,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,861,176 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ciena

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.