Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Jason Phipps Sells 5,648 Shares of Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total value of $478,046.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 109,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,300,073.92. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Ciena Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $84.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $43.30 and a 52 week high of $91.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $75.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.32. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. Ciena’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Northland Securities lifted their price target on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. FMR LLC raised its position in Ciena by 0.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,334,290,000 after acquiring an additional 108,407 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 119.9% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Ciena by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,439,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $273,427,000 after purchasing an additional 53,078 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Ciena by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $130,392,000 after buying an additional 523,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $148,348,000 after buying an additional 33,074 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ciena

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.