First Eagle Investment Management LLC Has $9.57 Million Stock Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

First Eagle Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 39.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 40,900 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 26,500 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $9,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Ciena by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,161 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 3,156 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $1,726,000. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 164.0% during 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. Peak Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 222.7% during the fourth quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,596 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,712,000 after purchasing an additional 8,003 shares during the period. Finally, Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $568,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Ciena from $280.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upped their price target on Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. One 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total value of $2,025,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 46,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,105. This represents a 9.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total value of $9,021,337.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,866.40. This trade represents a 99.69% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 42,974 shares of company stock valued at $17,418,863 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $577.50 on Wednesday. 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 Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $70.77 and a fifty-two week high of $593.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $440.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $307.70. The firm has a market cap of $81.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 367.83, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share 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.