David M. Rothenstein Sells 2,500 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Stock

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total transaction of $172,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 207,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,283,645.60. The trade was a 1.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE CIEN traded down $3.61 on Wednesday, reaching $65.81. 2,278,887 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,910,428. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $43.30 and a 12 month high of $101.44. The stock has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a PE ratio of 115.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Ciena by 108.6% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Ciena by 328.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 73.7% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 77.2% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.38.

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.