Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Sells $684,780.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Insider sale: Ciena SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares on May 15 for $684,780 at an average price of $570.65. After the sale, he still held 43,941 shares, and the transaction was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.
• Stock and earnings momentum: Ciena shares were up sharply in trading, and the company recently beat quarterly expectations with EPS of $1.35 versus $1.17 expected, on revenue of $1.43 billion versus $1.40 billion expected. Revenue rose 33.1% year over year.
• Analyst and ownership backdrop: Analyst sentiment remains constructive, with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and average price target of $398.83, while institutional investors own about 91.99% of the company. Several large funds increased their stakes in recent periods.

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.65, for a total transaction of $684,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,941 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,074,931.65. This trade represents a 2.66% 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.

Brodie Gage also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, April 15th, Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of Ciena stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.79, for a total transaction of $566,148.00.
• On Tuesday, March 24th, Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of Ciena stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total transaction of $2,025,000.00.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $16.99 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $541.52. The company had a trading volume of 2,328,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,059,742. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $458.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $318.47. The stock has a market cap of $76.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 344.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $70.77 and a 1 year high of $598.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at $2,747,810,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Ciena by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $941,451,000 after buying an additional 1,219,787 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Ciena by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,102,409 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,193,300,000 after buying an additional 750,128 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Ciena by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $947,554,000 after buying an additional 1,404,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Ciena by 10.4% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $284,313,000 after buying an additional 329,821 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Evercore set a $330.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $398.83.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation NYSE: CIEN is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena's product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.

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