Short Interest in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Increases By 6.3%

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,410,000 shares, a growth of 6.3% from the July 15th total of 4,150,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,490,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $53.94. The stock had a trading volume of 681,004 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,737,877. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a PE ratio of 51.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.91. Ciena has a twelve month low of $39.94 and a twelve month high of $63.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 3.88 and a quick ratio of 2.76.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $910.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $895.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ciena will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Raymond James lowered shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $52.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, B. Riley lowered their price objective on Ciena from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.25.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total value of $199,926.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 372,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,881,601.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total value of $170,835.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 212,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $199,926.34. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 372,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,881,601.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,378 shares of company stock valued at $501,724. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1,171.4% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,161,000 after buying an additional 41,326 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at about $661,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 949,476 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,736,000 after purchasing an additional 18,860 shares in the last quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 67.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 225,172 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,135,000 after purchasing an additional 90,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,476,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.