Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Makes New Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 15,328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,585,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Ciena by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,787 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Ciena by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $284,313,000 after acquiring an additional 329,821 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth about $292,310,000. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Ciena by 48.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,983,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $288,864,000 after acquiring an additional 648,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew 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 acquiring an additional 130,507 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total transaction of $9,021,337.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,866.40. This trade represents a 99.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.53, for a total transaction of $1,061,332.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 293,084 shares in the company, valued at $105,372,490.52. The trade was a 1.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 42,974 shares of company stock valued at $17,418,863 in the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CIEN. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $279.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $355.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Evercore set a $330.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.56.

Ciena Stock Up 1.5%

Ciena stock opened at $546.61 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $427.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $299.27. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $70.77 and a fifty-two week high of $583.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 348.16, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 2.14.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 EPS 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.