Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price Down 10.4% Following Insider Selling

Key Points

• Ciena shares fell 10.4% to about $358.94, with trading volume 14% above average, after CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares worth approximately $1.09 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $506.11, despite the recent decline.
• Ciena reported strong quarterly results, including $2.11 in EPS versus the $1.73 estimate and $1.67 billion in revenue, up 37% year over year; institutional investors own nearly 92% of its shares.

Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) traded down 10.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $356.78 and last traded at $358.9410. 3,308,289 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 14% from the average session volume of 2,896,721 shares. The stock had previously closed at $400.40.

Specifically, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.66, for a total value of $1,091,236.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 228,407 shares in the company, valued at $84,432,931.62. This trade represents a 1.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ciena from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Northland Securities set a $550.00 target price on Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $475.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $506.11.

Ciena Stock Down 10.4%

The company has a quick ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 3.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The business's fifty day moving average price is $379.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $441.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.90 billion, a PE ratio of 80.12, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $881,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at about $519,000. Ring Mountain Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 13.3% during the third quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC now owns 1,946 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Heffernan Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 104.0% during the third quarter. Heffernan Advisory Inc. now owns 1,020 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $359,000 after buying an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 16.1% during the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 12,417 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $4,369,000 after buying an additional 1,724 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation is a networking technology company that provides communications infrastructure, software and services for telecommunications providers, cloud operators, enterprises, governments and research institutions. Its solutions are designed to help organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support applications such as cloud computing, broadband connectivity, data center interconnection and 5G services.

The company's portfolio includes optical networking systems and coherent optical technologies, routing and switching platforms, broadband access solutions, network management software and professional services.

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