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

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total value of $478,046.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 109,878 shares in the company, valued at $9,300,073.92. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Ciena Stock Up 0.9 %

CIEN traded up $0.79 during trading on Monday, hitting $84.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,651,484 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,916,517. 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 company has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a PE ratio of 89.79, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $74.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.06. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $91.82.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. BNP Paribas cut Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in Ciena during the third quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position 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 buying an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its stake in Ciena by 118.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.