Insider Selling: Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Sells $1,046,897.28 in Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.64, for a total transaction of $1,046,897.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 296,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $104,986,207.04. This represents a 0.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Ciena Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $10.20 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $343.27. The company had a trading volume of 1,990,945 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,398,031. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.73. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $49.21 and a twelve month high of $365.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $270.50 and its 200-day moving average is $202.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.56 billion, a PE ratio of 403.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.08.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The business’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Community Bank N.A. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 71.0% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Ciena in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 50.4% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 104.0% during the third quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $260.80.

Ciena Company Profile

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.