Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith Sells 2,993 Shares of Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.65, for a total transaction of $741,216.45. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 304,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,506,503.80. The trade was a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $241.09 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $219.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $159.14. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 283.64, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.13.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Key Ciena News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ciena this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks put CIEN on its January 19 “Best Growth Stocks” list (Rank #1 / Strong Buy), which can attract momentum and retail/institutional buyers looking for growth exposure. Zacks: Best Growth Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: A Yahoo Finance piece highlights CIEN’s revenue growth and network milestones, drawing investor attention to the company’s secular demand in optical/network buildouts — a fundamental positive for longer-term revenue and margin outlook. Assessing Ciena Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Forbes ran a comparative piece (Arista vs. Ciena) noting Ciena has climbed year-to-date, which may encourage additional buying from investors re-evaluating peer valuations and positioning within networking stocks. Arista vs Ciena: Which Is Stronger?
• Neutral Sentiment: Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on CIEN but set a $260 price target (~mid-single-digit to high-single-digit upside from current levels). That endorsement curbs downside but is not a clear buy signal. Benzinga coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: An InsiderMonkey hedge-fund roundup mentioned CIEN among many funds/holdings; broad coverage can increase visibility but the piece did not signal a material position shift. Hedge Fund & Insider Trading News
• Negative Sentiment: Material insider selling: SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares (~$5.3M) and CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,993 shares (~$741k) on Jan 15. Large insider sales can spook short-term traders even if executives retain significant holdings. SEC filings: Phipps SEC Filing and CEO SEC Filing

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ciena during the third quarter worth approximately $1,993,000. World Investment Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $253,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in Ciena by 375.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $100,499,000 after acquiring an additional 975,792 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ciena by 7.4% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $426,420,000 after acquiring an additional 359,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M & L Capital Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter valued at $714,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CIEN. Barclays raised their price objective on Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.50.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena’s product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.