Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary B. Smith Sells 6,800 Shares

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total transaction of $488,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 368,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,522,472. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Ciena Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded up $1.57 during trading on Thursday, hitting $74.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,579,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,020,446. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.69 and a fifty-two week high of $101.44. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $64.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The company has a market capitalization of $10.65 billion, a PE ratio of 131.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.11.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 34.7% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $609,000. XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 245.0% in the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 75,319 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $4,552,000 after purchasing an additional 53,488 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter worth $12,973,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 28.6% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 48,879 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,954,000 after purchasing an additional 10,856 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CIEN shares. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and set a $89.00 price objective (down previously from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on Ciena from $73.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.62.

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.