Key Points
- Ciena EVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares for approximately $933,795 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing his holdings by 4.38% while retaining 57,388 shares.
- Ciena reported strong quarterly results, with revenue up 37% year over year to $1.67 billion and EPS of $2.11, exceeding analyst expectations.
- Wall Street remains broadly positive, with an average “Moderate Buy” rating and a $490.05 price target; institutional investors own nearly 92% of the company.
Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) CFO Marc Graff sold 97 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.19, for a total value of $34,453.43. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 107,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,053,635.84. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
Ciena Stock Up 14.2%
CIEN stock opened at $444.93 on Wednesday. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $147.36 and a twelve month high of $637.51. The company has a quick ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 3.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $63.09 billion, a PE ratio of 99.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average of $374.76 and a 200 day moving average of $441.20.
Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%.The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore upgraded shares of Ciena from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Ciena from $635.00 to $605.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 4th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Ciena from $508.00 to $394.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $490.05.
Read Our Latest Analysis on CIEN
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Andra AP fonden boosted its holdings in Ciena by 250.6% in the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 35,899 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $17,611,000 after purchasing an additional 25,660 shares during the last quarter. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC raised its stake in Ciena by 22.6% during the 2nd quarter. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC now owns 981 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. IPG Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at $312,000. Gemmer Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,280,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at $14,835,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Key Stories Impacting Ciena
Here are the key news stories impacting Ciena this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm increased after Marvell Technology projected 60%–70% growth for the optical-interconnect market over the next four years. The outlook supports expectations that Ciena could benefit from rising data-center, cloud-computing and AI networking demand. Ciena Gets Boost From Optical Growth Outlook
- Positive Sentiment: Ciena’s latest fiscal-quarter results showed revenue rising 37% year over year to $1.67 billion, above expectations, while adjusted earnings also exceeded analyst estimates. The results strengthen the case that demand for optical connectivity is translating into financial growth. Ciena Stock Gains as Fiscal Q3 Revenue Jumps 37 Percent
- Positive Sentiment: Market attention also broadened to AI-networking beneficiaries, with Ciena outperforming larger switching vendors as investors focused on the need for higher-capacity optical links inside data centers. AI Networking Demand Lifts Ciena
- Neutral Sentiment: Bernstein began coverage with a $440 price target, providing new analyst visibility and validating the company’s positioning, although the target offers limited upside relative to the stock’s recent trading level. Bernstein Starts Coverage on Ciena
- Negative Sentiment: Executives disclosed stock sales, including EVP Jason Phipps’s sale of roughly $934,000 and CFO Marc Graff’s sale of about $34,000. Both transactions were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, reducing their value as a bearish signal; the executives continue to hold substantial positions. Ciena Executive Stock Sale Filing
About Ciena
(
Get Free Report)
Ciena Corporation is a networking technology company that provides communications infrastructure, software and services for telecommunications providers, cloud operators, enterprises, governments and research institutions. Its solutions are designed to help organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support applications such as cloud computing, broadband connectivity, data center interconnection and 5G services.
The company's portfolio includes optical networking systems and coherent optical technologies, routing and switching platforms, broadband access solutions, network management software and professional services.
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