Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Gap Down - Here's Why

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $83.89, but opened at $76.85. Ciena shares last traded at $72.52, with a volume of 3,508,713 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday. Barclays set a $100.00 target price on Ciena and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $89.00 price objective (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.23.

Ciena Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $69.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $10.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 126.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.12.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total transaction of $172,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 207,370 shares in the company, valued at $14,283,645.60. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.89, for a total transaction of $543,252.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 362,080 shares in the company, valued at $28,926,571.20. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 51,788 shares of company stock worth $3,431,319 in the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,316,640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,299,004,000 after purchasing an additional 139,941 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in Ciena by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,236,920 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $444,143,000 after purchasing an additional 17,447 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Ciena by 195.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,626,153 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $392,345,000 after purchasing an additional 3,062,883 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Ciena by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,227,020 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $273,684,000 after purchasing an additional 49,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ciena by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,419,947 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $205,301,000 after purchasing an additional 11,933 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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.