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

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.05, for a total transaction of $1,659,171.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 272,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $153,163,683.45. The trade was a 1.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ciena Trading Up 3.2%

Ciena stock traded up $16.99 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $541.52. 2,328,732 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,059,742. The company has a quick ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $70.77 and a 12 month high of $598.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $458.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $318.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 344.92, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Evercore set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $430.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $355.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.83.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at $2,747,810,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ciena by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $941,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,787 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Ciena by 17.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Ciena by 53.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,404,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Ciena by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $284,313,000 after purchasing an additional 329,821 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

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.