Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary B. Smith Sells 13,600 Shares

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total transaction of $1,137,776.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 425,749 shares in the company, valued at $35,618,161.34. This represents a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN stock opened at $84.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a PE ratio of 89.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $75.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.32. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $43.30 and a 1-year high of $91.82.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 925.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 118.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CIEN. BNP Paribas downgraded Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.00.

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.