Semanteon Capital Management LP Purchases New Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,900 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $568,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 253.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 40,700 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,929,000 after acquiring an additional 29,200 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter valued at about $1,182,000. SMART Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Ciena by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,437 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on CIEN shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 target price on Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.67.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.45, for a total transaction of $2,642,514.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 50,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,414,350.80. This represents a 18.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total transaction of $1,921,741.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,116,746.52. The trade was a 47.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 160,083 shares of company stock worth $37,204,740. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN opened at $334.77 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $340.27. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $253.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.95. The company has a market capitalization of $47.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 393.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.13.

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

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.