Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Gap Down - Here's Why

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $96.62, but opened at $84.60. Ciena shares last traded at $81.71, with a volume of 2,113,193 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.77.

Ciena Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $81.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.78, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.89.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total value of $311,815.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 192,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,194,102.73. This trade represents a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,781 shares of company stock worth $4,298,500. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the second quarter valued at $202,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Ciena by 640.7% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 64,466 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,106,000 after acquiring an additional 55,763 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Ciena by 490.2% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 50,062 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,412,000 after acquiring an additional 41,580 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its position in Ciena by 13.7% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,799 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP raised its position in Ciena by 118.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.