Insider Selling: Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Director Sells 16,912 Shares of Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,042,121.12. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Ciena Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $82.22 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $76.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.69. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $91.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.68 billion, a PE ratio of 87.47, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 925.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.