Insider Selling: Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Sells 1,289 Shares of Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN opened at $68.17 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.13. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $42.20 and a 52-week high of $73.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.52, a P/E/G ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the topic of several research reports. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup raised Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Ciena by 424.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the second quarter worth about $40,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 152.8% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 339.5% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,213 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

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.