Insider Selling: Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Sells 3,500 Shares of Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total value of $311,815.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 192,997 shares in the company, valued at $17,194,102.73. The trade was a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Ciena Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $87.38 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $70.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.88. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $43.30 and a 12-month high of $91.82. The company has a market cap of $12.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.96, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Ciena announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 55.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,441 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $503,000 after purchasing an additional 3,725 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $355,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth $227,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at $146,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 169,852 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $8,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays raised their target price on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

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.