Insider Selling: Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Sells $1,131,013.44 in Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 89,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,344,769.04. This trade represents a 17.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $53.53 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $43.30 and a twelve month high of $101.44. The company has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $75.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.21.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Northland Capmk raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 target price (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.38.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $148,348,000 after buying an additional 33,074 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at $245,000. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Ciena by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth about $421,000. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at about $755,000. 91.99% of the stock is 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.