Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Sells $186,636.80 in Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.80, for a total value of $186,636.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,109 shares in the company, valued at $17,252,883.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $43.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 4.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $51.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.17. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $39.94 and a 52 week high of $63.24. The stock has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.99.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 9.92% and a net margin of 5.22%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deepwater Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,587,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $206,000. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ciena by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 30,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,485,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Ciena by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 815,486 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $40,326,000 after acquiring an additional 4,444 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on CIEN. Citigroup began coverage on Ciena in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $44.00 target price on the stock. BNP Paribas began coverage on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.79.

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.