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 on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total value of $1,349,123.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 266,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $121,843,817.10. The trade was a 1.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ciena Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $428.02 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.67 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $73.55 and a twelve month high of $637.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $521.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $371.61.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $530.56.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the first quarter worth about $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Ciena by 139.6% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,061 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ciena by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $13,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,117 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in Ciena by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the second quarter worth approximately $234,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

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.