Insider Selling: Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Sells 3,500 Shares of Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total value of $311,815.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 192,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,194,102.73. This represents a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN stock traded down $4.22 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $83.92. The company had a trading volume of 2,743,108 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,863,695. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $42.76 and a one year high of $91.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.28, a P/E/G ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $69.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ciena from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 152.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Ciena by 118.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 241.5% in 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 in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Ciena

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.