Ciena Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CIEN)

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 7,039 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 104% compared to the typical volume of 3,454 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CIEN. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ciena from $140.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research downgraded Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Wall Street Zen cut Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. B. Riley reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $113.00 target price (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.20.

Ciena Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $195.30 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $214.17. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $179.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 201.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The company had revenue of $844.44 million during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.45, for a total value of $1,424,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 261,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,806,781.50. This represents a 2.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total value of $262,943.82. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. This represents a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 45,135 shares of company stock valued at $7,397,518 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $292,310,000. Atreides Management LP bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth $102,705,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 23.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,787 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the first quarter worth $70,065,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Ciena by 2,174.2% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,143,855 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $166,625,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,557 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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.