Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Short Interest Update

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 5,044,648 shares, a decline of 19.4% from the February 26th total of 6,258,043 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,324,794 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days. Currently, 3.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total transaction of $2,025,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 46,341 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,105. This trade represents a 9.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total transaction of $2,741,522.78. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 49,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,370,344.50. The trade was a 19.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 148,283 shares of company stock valued at $36,397,491 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at $2,747,810,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 30,114.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $671,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,176 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter worth about $292,310,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Ciena by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $947,554,000 after buying an additional 1,404,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atreides Management LP bought a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at about $102,705,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 0.3%

CIEN stock opened at $402.67 on Monday. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $316.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $235.77. Ciena has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $446.89. 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 (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CIEN. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, March 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price on the stock. Evercore set a $330.00 target price on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. B. Riley Financial upped their target price on Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.12.

About Ciena

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.