Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Jason Phipps Sells 5,648 Shares

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total transaction of $478,046.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 109,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,300,073.92. This trade represents a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $0.79 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $84.40. 1,651,484 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,916,517. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $91.82. The company’s 50 day moving average is $74.95 and its 200 day moving average is $62.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The business 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. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research 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 repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Ciena by 925.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Ciena by 152.8% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its position in Ciena by 118.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on CIEN. BNP Paribas cut Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays upped their price target on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.00.

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.