Gary B. Smith Sells 4,166 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.80, for a total value of $186,636.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 385,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,252,883.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $43.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a current ratio of 4.29. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $39.94 and a one year high of $63.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $52.06 and its 200 day moving average is $48.19.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CIEN. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Citigroup started coverage on Ciena in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $44.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.79.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 28,651 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,737,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Ciena by 11.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 17,204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 1,708 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Ciena by 0.6% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 36,296 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,227,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Ciena by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,753,752 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $106,335,000 after purchasing an additional 41,815 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in Ciena by 40.6% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 19,106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after buying an additional 5,516 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.