Dino Diperna Sells 2,682 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.64, for a total value of $235,050.48. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,607 shares in the company, valued at $4,435,197.48. This trade represents a 5.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $84.81 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. The stock has a market cap of $12.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.22, a P/E/G ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $91.82.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results 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). Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.4% in 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 period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the second quarter worth about $5,039,000. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,988,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,334,290,000 after acquiring an additional 108,407 shares during the period. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 119.6% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 239,389 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $14,744,000 after purchasing an additional 130,399 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently 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.