Gary Smith Sells 2,952 Shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $537.74, for a total value of $1,587,408.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 275,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,126,398.14. This trade represents a 1.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN traded up $2.66 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $537.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,197,002 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,191,845. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $70.67 and a one year high of $550.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.07 billion, a PE ratio of 342.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $414.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $291.20.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.1 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CIEN. Evercore set a $330.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $279.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $358.94.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,747,810,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 30,114.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $671,365,000 after buying an additional 2,861,176 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at $292,310,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Ciena by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $947,554,000 after buying an additional 1,404,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atreides Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $102,705,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena’s product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.