Dorsey Wright & Associates Acquires New Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Dorsey Wright & Associates purchased a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,938 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,529,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,161 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 3,156 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 445,359 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $104,156,000 after purchasing an additional 155,712 shares during the period. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings in Ciena by 164.0% in the fourth quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. now owns 660,988 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $154,585,000 after purchasing an additional 410,588 shares during the period. TKG Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ciena in the first quarter valued at $3,244,000. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS increased its stake in Ciena by 1,095.8% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 27,527 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,438,000 after purchasing an additional 25,225 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.83, for a total value of $1,383,986.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 254,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,498,203.38. This trade represents a 1.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $1,225,639.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 62,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,082,488.40. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,627 shares of company stock valued at $10,974,985. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CIEN. Citigroup upped their price target on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price objective on Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $373.72 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $495.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $403.75. The firm has a market cap of $52.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.57 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $83.20 and a 1 year high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.Ciena’s quarterly revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.