Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Trading Down 7.7% on Insider Selling

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) shares dropped 7.7% on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $407.89 and last traded at $404.0070. Approximately 844,097 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 3,443,548 shares. The stock had previously closed at $437.70.

Specifically, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total transaction of $2,025,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 46,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,105. This represents a 9.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Evercore set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $250.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $260.00 to $355.00 in a research report on Friday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.12.

Ciena Stock Down 11.3%

The firm has a market capitalization of $54.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 247.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 2.14. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $312.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $232.27.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.The company’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 71.0% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its position in Ciena by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.