Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $96.62, but opened at $84.60. Ciena shares last traded at $81.71, with a volume of 2,113,193 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Northland Securities upped their target price on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

Ciena Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $11.12 billion, a PE ratio of 138.02, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $80.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.18.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,256,582.77. This represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 50,781 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,500. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake 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 valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 152.8% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Company Profile

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.