Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Ciena Call Options (NYSE:CIEN)

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 3,297 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 50% compared to the average volume of 2,191 call options.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN traded up $0.83 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $44.75. The stock had a trading volume of 1,850,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,007,269. The stock has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a PE ratio of 29.06, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a current ratio of 4.29. Ciena has a one year low of $39.94 and a one year high of $63.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.34 and a 200-day moving average of $48.20.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.02 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 9.92% and a net margin of 5.22%. The firm's revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ciena from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, April 12th. They set a "sell" rating and a $44.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.79.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.19, for a total value of $175,665.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 230,001 shares in the company, valued at $11,543,750.19. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.80, for a total transaction of $186,636.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 385,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,252,883.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.19, for a total transaction of $175,665.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 230,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,543,750.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 107,189 shares of company stock worth $5,754,880. Insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,084,694 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $712,903,000 after acquiring an additional 155,964 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 4.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,940,640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $422,535,000 after buying an additional 371,041 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. boosted its position in Ciena by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. now owns 5,021,719 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $226,028,000 after buying an additional 368,897 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its position in Ciena by 8.6% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 4,652,822 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $219,893,000 after buying an additional 366,647 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in Ciena by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,513,633 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $158,149,000 after buying an additional 791,215 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

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.