Insider Selling: Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Sells $926,160.00 in Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $926,160.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,636,223.40. This represents a 2.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Ciena Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of CIEN opened at $138.48 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.28. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $139.74.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,804 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,680,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Ciena by 49.3% in the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 30,023 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,546,000 after buying an additional 9,916 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,756 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 11,329 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $961,000 after buying an additional 966 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.75.

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.