Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by Yousif Capital Management LLC

Yousif Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,815 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,734 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $6,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. World Investment Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth $253,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 375.4% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $100,499,000 after purchasing an additional 975,792 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7.4% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $426,420,000 after purchasing an additional 359,579 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 516.6% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 18,719 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 15,683 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in Ciena by 322.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 34,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,912,000 after purchasing an additional 25,986 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on CIEN. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.50.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $240.06 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 282.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.86. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $248.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 1,984 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.42, for a total transaction of $284,545.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 80,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,508,594.48. This trade represents a 2.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.84, for a total value of $121,462.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 39,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,831,833.28. The trade was a 1.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 47,412 shares of company stock worth $8,877,100 over the last 90 days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena’s product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.