Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price Down 3.7% on Insider Selling

Key Points

• Ciena shares fell 3.7% to about $343.71 after director Thomas Nevens sold 3,738 shares for approximately $1.34 million, reducing his direct holdings by 37.28%.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall: Ciena has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $492.68, despite UBS lowering its target to $394.
• Ciena reported strong quarterly results, with adjusted EPS of $2.11 beating estimates and revenue rising 37% year over year to $1.67 billion; institutional investors own nearly 92% of the stock.

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) was down 3.7% during trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $339.33 and last traded at $343.7070. Approximately 1,829,412 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 36% from the average daily volume of 2,873,830 shares. The stock had previously closed at $356.91.

Specifically, Director Thomas Nevens sold 3,738 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.04, for a total value of $1,342,091.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,289 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,258,002.56. This trade represents a 37.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $508.00 to $394.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $475.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Evercore raised shares of Ciena from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $492.68.

Ciena Stock Performance

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 has a fifty day moving average price of $375.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $439.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.74 billion, a PE ratio of 76.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.30.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.64 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%.Ciena's revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. Research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Andra AP fonden increased its stake in Ciena by 250.6% in the 2nd quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 35,899 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $17,611,000 after buying an additional 25,660 shares during the period. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 22.6% in the 2nd quarter. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC now owns 981 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. IPG Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth about $312,000. Gemmer Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,280,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth about $14,835,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation NYSE: CIEN is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software and services for communications networks. Its solutions help service providers, cloud companies, enterprises and government organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support broadband, cloud computing, data center interconnection and other digital services.

The company's product portfolio includes optical networking systems, coherent optical technology, routers, switches, network control and automation software, and network management tools.

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