Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Price Down 3.7% After Insider Selling

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) traded down 3.7% during trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $339.33 and last traded at $343.7070. 1,829,412 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 36% from the average daily volume of 2,873,830 shares. The stock had previously closed at $356.91.

Specifically, Director Thomas Nevens sold 3,738 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.04, for a total value of $1,342,091.52. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,258,002.56. This represents a 37.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Ciena from $475.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ciena from $635.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Finally, B. Riley Financial dropped their target price on shares of Ciena from $516.00 to $413.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $492.68.

Ciena Trading Down 3.7%

The stock has a market capitalization of $48.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 3.80, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $375.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $439.90.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%.The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Markowski Investments acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the second quarter worth $28,000. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 2,100.0% during the first quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 88 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 57.8% during the second quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 635.7% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 103 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the first quarter valued at $49,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software and services for communications networks. Its solutions help service providers, cloud companies, enterprises and government organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support broadband, cloud computing, data center interconnection and other digital services.

The company’s product portfolio includes optical networking systems, coherent optical technology, routers, switches, network control and automation software, and network management tools.