Gary B. Smith Sells 6,800 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.18, for a total value of $443,224.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 391,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,534,199.82. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Ciena Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of CIEN opened at $65.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.06, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $101.44. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.42.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Northland Capmk raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 target price (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in shares of Ciena by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,978 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 108.6% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 73.7% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Ciena by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

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.