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

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.19, for a total transaction of $504,492.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 348,480 shares in the company, valued at $25,853,731.20. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Ciena Stock Up 0.5%

CIEN stock traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $73.83. 1,496,831 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,085,397. The company has a market capitalization of $10.44 billion, a PE ratio of 74.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $44.89 and a twelve month high of $101.44. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.07.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 108.6% in 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 buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $887,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target (up previously from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $83.15.

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.

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