Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP David M. Rothenstein Sells 3,500 Shares

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total transaction of $311,815.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 192,997 shares in the company, valued at $17,194,102.73. The trade was a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Ciena Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $85.79 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $43.12 and a 12-month high of $91.82. The business has a 50 day moving average of $70.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.88. The company has a market capitalization of $12.39 billion, a PE ratio of 91.27, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CIEN. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their target price on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in Ciena by 118.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 241.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.