Insider Selling: Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Sells 6,800 Shares of Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.35, for a total transaction of $546,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 332,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,704,884.95. This represents a 2.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Ciena Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $1.83 during trading on Thursday, reaching $81.35. The company had a trading volume of 902,052 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,388,049. The stock has a market cap of $11.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 112.99, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.11. The company's fifty day moving average price is $76.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.31. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $44.89 and a 12 month high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 108.6% in the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 328.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CIEN. Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $84.31.

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.

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