Gary B. Smith Sells 13,600 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total value of $1,137,776.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 425,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,618,161.34. The trade was a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded up $0.79 during trading on Monday, reaching $84.40. 1,651,590 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,916,630. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $74.95 and a 200-day moving average of $62.06. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $43.30 and a 12 month high of $91.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. 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 previous year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in Ciena by 119.9% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 7,767.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $94,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941,419 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter worth about $57,861,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 428.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 886,354 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,705,000 after purchasing an additional 718,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,416,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.