Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $65.53, but opened at $61.78. Ciena shares last traded at $60.81, with a volume of 1,055,753 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on CIEN. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 target price (down previously from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Ciena Stock Up 3.8 %

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $83.11 and its 200-day moving average is $73.22. The firm has a market cap of $9.47 billion, a PE ratio of 116.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total value of $519,588.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 398,549 shares in the company, valued at $30,453,129.09. This trade represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.64, for a total value of $235,050.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,607 shares in the company, valued at $4,435,197.48. This represents a 5.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 63,442 shares of company stock valued at $5,337,764 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in Ciena by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,978 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 108.6% in the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 73.7% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 3.8% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

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.