LMR Partners LLP Boosts Stock Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

LMR Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 280.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 285,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 210,000 shares during the quarter. LMR Partners LLP owned about 0.20% of Ciena worth $23,179,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CIEN. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 34.7% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Ciena by 107.5% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Ciena by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in Ciena by 82.5% during the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,203 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 21.5% in the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,455 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ciena from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 target price on Ciena and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ciena from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price target on Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $240.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total value of $1,309,748.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 254,870 shares in the company, valued at $49,090,510.70. This represents a 2.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total value of $59,276.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 40,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,884,992.08. The trade was a 0.85% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 51,935 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,266. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $218.82 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $188.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $128.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market cap of $30.87 billion, a PE ratio of 257.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.17. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $248.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.Ciena’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.