Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Gap Down - What's Next?

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $80.13, but opened at $77.25. Ciena shares last traded at $78.99, with a volume of 333,452 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on CIEN shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Wolfe Research raised Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on Ciena in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 price target (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $84.08.

Ciena Trading Down 1.3%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40. The firm has a market cap of $10.95 billion, a PE ratio of 107.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.11.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total transaction of $187,162.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,829,056.50. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.60, for a total value of $25,410.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 45,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,331,105.80. This trade represents a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,919 shares of company stock worth $3,115,199 in the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in 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 worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 328.2% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in Ciena by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.