Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary B. Smith Sells 6,800 Shares of Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total value of $519,588.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 398,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,453,129.09. This trade represents a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Ciena Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $75.25 on Thursday. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $43.30 and a twelve month high of $101.44. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $10.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 132.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day moving average of $85.31 and a 200-day moving average of $72.80.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.77.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 108.6% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Ciena by 925.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 73.7% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Ciena by 328.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 77.2% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company’s Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.