Ciena Corporation $CIEN Stock Bought by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,407 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,280 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $9,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CIEN. Swiss National Bank increased its position in Ciena by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 413,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $160,468,000 after purchasing an additional 26,900 shares during the period. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at about $10,883,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 983.2% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 17,168 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $6,665,000 after purchasing an additional 15,583 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,124,000. Finally, Groupe la Francaise bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at approximately $11,911,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, EVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.19, for a total value of $933,794.51. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 57,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,383,643.72. The trade was a 4.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.52, for a total value of $568,612.72. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,186,636.40. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders sold 36,014 shares of company stock valued at $13,216,540 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CIEN. Evercore raised shares of Ciena from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $550.00 in a report on Monday, September 21st. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ciena from $508.00 to $394.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 25th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price target (down from $660.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $485.93.

Ciena Stock Down 15.6%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $229.88 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $353.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $402.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a current ratio of 3.80. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $168.22 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.33.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a net margin of 10.87% and a return on equity of 25.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. Ciena’s revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software, and services for communications networks. Its solutions help telecommunications carriers, cloud providers, enterprises, government organizations, and research institutions build, manage, and automate high-capacity networks.

The company’s portfolio includes optical networking systems, routing and switching platforms, network automation software, and network management tools. Ciena also offers consulting, implementation, maintenance, and professional services designed to support network planning, deployment, optimization, and ongoing operations.