Insider Selling: Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Sells 1,289 Shares of Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $67.07. 329,998 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,797,364. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $42.20 and a 52-week high of $73.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $64.11 and a 200 day moving average of $54.82. The company has a market cap of $9.69 billion, a PE ratio of 70.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.46 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program 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 reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new position in Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 339.5% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,213 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

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.