Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock: Insider Marc Graff Sells 97 Shares

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CFO Marc Graff sold 97 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.19, for a total transaction of $34,453.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 107,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,053,635.84. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ciena Trading Up 14.2%

NYSE:CIEN traded up $55.24 on Tuesday, reaching $444.93. The stock had a trading volume of 6,381,706 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,582,539. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $147.36 and a 12-month high of $637.51. The company has a market cap of $63.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.31, a P/E/G ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $374.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $441.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 3.80 and a quick ratio of 3.17.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Ciena in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $440.00 price target for the company. Evercore raised Ciena from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Morgan Stanley reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. B. Riley Financial reduced their target price on Ciena from $516.00 to $413.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Northland Securities set a $550.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.05.

Key Headlines Impacting Ciena

Here are the key news stories impacting Ciena this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm increased after Marvell Technology projected 60%–70% growth for the optical-interconnect market over the next four years. The outlook supports expectations that Ciena could benefit from rising data-center, cloud-computing and AI networking demand. Ciena Gets Boost From Optical Growth Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Ciena’s latest fiscal-quarter results showed revenue rising 37% year over year to $1.67 billion, above expectations, while adjusted earnings also exceeded analyst estimates. The results strengthen the case that demand for optical connectivity is translating into financial growth. Ciena Stock Gains as Fiscal Q3 Revenue Jumps 37 Percent
• Positive Sentiment: Market attention also broadened to AI-networking beneficiaries, with Ciena outperforming larger switching vendors as investors focused on the need for higher-capacity optical links inside data centers. AI Networking Demand Lifts Ciena
• Neutral Sentiment: Bernstein began coverage with a $440 price target, providing new analyst visibility and validating the company’s positioning, although the target offers limited upside relative to the stock’s recent trading level. Bernstein Starts Coverage on Ciena
• Negative Sentiment: Executives disclosed stock sales, including EVP Jason Phipps’s sale of roughly $934,000 and CFO Marc Graff’s sale of about $34,000. Both transactions were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, reducing their value as a bearish signal; the executives continue to hold substantial positions. Ciena Executive Stock Sale Filing

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 30,114.5% in 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 during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Ciena by 95.6% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,236,835 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $523,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092,980 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Ciena by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,868,881 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $437,075,000 after acquiring an additional 31,900 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Ciena during the second quarter valued at about $404,948,000. Finally, Atreides Management LP increased its stake in Ciena by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Atreides Management LP now owns 1,428,230 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $334,020,000 after acquiring an additional 27,466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation is a networking technology company that provides communications infrastructure, software and services for telecommunications providers, cloud operators, enterprises, governments and research institutions. Its solutions are designed to help organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support applications such as cloud computing, broadband connectivity, data center interconnection and 5G services.

The company’s portfolio includes optical networking systems and coherent optical technologies, routing and switching platforms, broadband access solutions, network management software and professional services.