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

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.51, for a total transaction of $884,153.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 298,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,549,895.88. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE:CIEN traded up $17.86 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $336.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,022,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,561,027. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.57 billion, a PE ratio of 397.27, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $340.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $250.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $186.59. 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 (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly 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. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $25,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC raised 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 buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 target price on Ciena in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Citigroup increased their price target on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $190.00 price target on shares of Ciena and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.67.

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.