Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Sells $130,962.48 in Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value of $130,962.48. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 96,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,635,840. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Ciena Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $46.95. The company had a trading volume of 577,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,863,071. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $39.94 and a one year high of $63.24. The stock has a market cap of $6.75 billion, a PE ratio of 45.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.76, a current ratio of 3.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $47.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.58.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.12. Ciena had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 3.71%. The firm had revenue of $910.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $895.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 14,600 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $657,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 26,281 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,300,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in Ciena by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 65,144 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,079,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. increased its stake in Ciena by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 5,929 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 14,345 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $678,000 after buying an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on CIEN. BNP Paribas started coverage on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price target on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley raised Ciena from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Monday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.25.

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.