Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Trading Down 4% – What’s Next?

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)’s stock price fell 4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $186.39 and last traded at $194.3050. 799,036 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 2,473,464 shares. The stock had previously closed at $202.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $141.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.53.

Ciena Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $179.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.40 billion, a PE ratio of 207.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total transaction of $1,309,748.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 254,870 shares in the company, valued at $49,090,510.70. This represents a 2.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total value of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at $7,653,914.88. This trade represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 51,935 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,266. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Ciena during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 50.4% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 104.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.