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

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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $260.00 to $355.00 in a report on Friday, March 6th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Ciena from $280.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, December 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.12.

Ciena Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $316.01 and its 200 day moving average is $234.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.94 billion, a PE ratio of 256.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at about $1,993,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $1,726,000. Peak Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 222.7% during the fourth quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,596 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,712,000 after buying an additional 8,003 shares during the last quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $568,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in Ciena by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 112,011 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,317,000 after acquiring an additional 31,225 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ciena

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.