Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by USA Financial Formulas

USA Financial Formulas lowered its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 58.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,861 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,636 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas’ holdings in Ciena were worth $435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $941,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,787 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 10.4% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $284,313,000 after purchasing an additional 329,821 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at $292,310,000. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Ciena by 48.5% in the third quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,983,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $288,864,000 after buying an additional 648,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Ciena by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,836,981 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $267,593,000 after buying an additional 130,507 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Ciena from $320.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.12.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total value of $2,741,522.78. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 49,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,370,344.50. The trade was a 19.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total transaction of $5,300,631.87. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 91,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,747,625.85. The trade was a 18.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 148,283 shares of company stock worth $36,397,491 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 3.8%

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $402.67 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $316.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $235.03. The stock has a market cap of $56.94 billion, a PE ratio of 256.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $446.89.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena Company 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.