Investors Buy High Volume of Ciena Put Options (NYSE:CIEN)

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 7,039 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 104% compared to the average volume of 3,454 put options.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.45, for a total transaction of $1,424,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 261,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,806,781.50. This represents a 2.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total transaction of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 54,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,653,914.88. The trade was a 13.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 45,135 shares of company stock worth $7,397,518 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 1.7% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,772 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $695,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 1.3% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $943,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,071 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Up 1.6%

CIEN traded up $3.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $196.41. 550,873 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,478,319. The company has a market cap of $27.70 billion, a PE ratio of 202.14, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $178.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.24. Ciena has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $214.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $844.44 million during the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Equities analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group increased their price target on Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Ciena from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.20.

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.