Gary Smith Sells 2,952 Shares of Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Stock

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.92, for a total transaction of $1,670,595.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 269,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,547,697.44. The trade was a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ciena Stock Performance

Ciena stock opened at $623.07 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $512.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $351.19. 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 cap of $88.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 396.86 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $70.77 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Asset Dedication LLC raised its position in Ciena by 2,100.0% in the 1st quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 88 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its position in Ciena by 635.7% in the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 103 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Ciena by 71.0% in the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 85.5% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 141 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CIEN shares. B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $279.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $420.39.

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.