Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Sells $311,815.00 in Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total transaction of $311,815.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 192,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,194,102.73. This represents a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Ciena Stock Down 4.8 %

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $83.92 on Thursday. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $42.76 and a twelve month high of $91.82. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $70.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.69. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $12.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 152.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Ciena by 118.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 241.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

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.