Investors Purchase High Volume of Ciena Call Options (NYSE:CIEN)

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 2,519 call options on the stock. Thisisanincreaseof45% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,736 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Ciena from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Northland Securities set a $100.00 target price on Ciena in a report on Monday, June 30th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ciena from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.32.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $631,924.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 305,157 shares in the company, valued at $28,358,240.01. The trade was a 2.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total transaction of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,769 shares of company stock valued at $3,326,705 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 9,162.5% in the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 741 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 733 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $116.57 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $89.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.36. The company has a market capitalization of $16.48 billion, a PE ratio of 120.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $122.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.61%. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ciena will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

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.