Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Trading Down 4% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Ciena shares fell about 4% in midday trading, with volume far below normal as only 122,672 shares changed hands versus an average of about 3.06 million.
• Despite the decline, analysts remain broadly positive: the stock carries a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $530.56, with several firms recently raising targets sharply.
• Recent earnings were strong, as Ciena reported EPS of $1.64, beating estimates, while revenue rose 39.5% year over year to $1.57 billion.

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report)'s share price was down 4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $430.00 and last traded at $429.1860. 122,672 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 96% from the average daily volume of 3,063,954 shares. The stock had previously closed at $446.93.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus set a $650.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities set a $450.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Citigroup upped their target price on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $530.56.

Ciena Stock Down 9.0%

The firm has a market capitalization of $57.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 136.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $504.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $401.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.05, for a total value of $1,659,171.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 272,509 shares in the company, valued at $153,163,683.45. The trade was a 1.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $739,599.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,992,499.76. This represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,627 shares of company stock valued at $10,974,985. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,747,810,000. State Street Corp raised its position 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 worth $1,193,300,000 after acquiring an additional 750,128 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $947,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404,132 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Ciena by 10.4% during the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 329,821 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 30,114.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $671,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,861,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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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