Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock: Insider Gary Smith Sells 2,952 Shares

Key Points

• CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 Ciena shares at an average price of $348.02, generating approximately $1.03 million. The sale, conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reduced his direct holdings by 1.29% to 225,455 shares.
• Ciena shares rose 3.3% to $343.63, while the company reported quarterly earnings of $2.11 per share and revenue of $1.67 billion, beating analyst estimates. Revenue increased 37% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with an average price target of $506.11 versus the recent share price. Institutional investors own approximately 91.99% of Ciena’s outstanding stock.

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.02, for a total transaction of $1,027,355.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 225,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $78,462,849.10. This trade represents a 1.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ciena Trading Up 3.3%

Shares of CIEN stock traded up $10.90 during trading on Monday, hitting $343.63. 626,362 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,889,472. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 3.80 and a quick ratio of 3.17. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $376.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $440.79. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $159.56 and a 52-week high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 52.9% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,682 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $592,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 31,473 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $11,073,000 after purchasing an additional 2,387 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 1.7% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 13,964 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $5,306,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $267,000. Finally, Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $659,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $440.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Ciena from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. B. Riley Financial dropped their target price on shares of Ciena from $516.00 to $413.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Ciena from $635.00 to $605.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Evercore raised shares of Ciena from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, September 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $506.11.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation NYSE: CIEN is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software, and services for communications networks. Its solutions help telecommunications carriers, cloud providers, enterprises, government organizations, and research institutions build, manage, and automate high-capacity networks.

The company's portfolio includes optical networking systems, routing and switching platforms, network automation software, and network management tools. Ciena also offers consulting, implementation, maintenance, and professional services designed to support network planning, deployment, optimization, and ongoing operations.

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