Insider Selling: Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Sells 2,682 Shares of Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.64, for a total value of $235,050.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,607 shares in the company, valued at $4,435,197.48. The trade was a 5.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Ciena Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded down $1.65 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $85.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,128,472 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,855,128. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $73.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.75. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $91.82.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The business's revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas lowered Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of 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 issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.00.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 241.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 118.9% in 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 in 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.