Brodie Gage Sells 350 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 49,547 shares in the company, valued at $4,256,582.77. The trade was a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Ciena Trading Up 1.1 %

Ciena stock opened at $84.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.07 billion, a PE ratio of 149.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.89. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $43.30 and a 12 month high of $91.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.45. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Ciena by 925.0% during the fourth 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 period. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 424.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 152.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their price objective on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently 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.