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

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.16, for a total value of $880,168.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 222,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,341,494.48. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $271.47 on Thursday. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $168.22 and a twelve month high of $637.51. The company has a current ratio of 3.80, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $357.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $402.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.33.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $440.00 price objective for the company. Evercore upgraded Ciena from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $375.00 to $550.00 in a report on Monday, September 21st. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target (up from $530.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $485.93.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Ciena by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 413,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $160,468,000 after purchasing an additional 26,900 shares in the last quarter. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth $10,883,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 983.2% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 17,168 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $6,665,000 after buying an additional 15,583 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth $2,124,000. Finally, Groupe la Francaise purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at $11,911,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software, and services for communications networks. Its solutions help telecommunications carriers, cloud providers, enterprises, government organizations, and research institutions build, manage, and automate high-capacity networks.

The company’s portfolio includes optical networking systems, routing and switching platforms, network automation software, and network management tools. Ciena also offers consulting, implementation, maintenance, and professional services designed to support network planning, deployment, optimization, and ongoing operations.