9,854 Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Purchased by Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 105.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,192 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,854 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $6,752,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $404,948,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Ciena by 7.0% in 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 last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Ciena by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 332,271 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $116,900,000 after purchasing an additional 12,986 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 321,825 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $124,942,000 after purchasing an additional 31,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Ciena by 24.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 266,384 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $93,719,000 after buying an additional 52,382 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus set a $550.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on Ciena from $508.00 to $394.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, CL King set a $347.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Friday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $506.11.

Ciena Stock Performance

Ciena stock opened at $322.68 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $370.43 and a 200-day moving average of $438.46. The company has a market capitalization of $45.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 1.28. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $164.13 and a 1 year high of $637.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 3.80 and a quick ratio of 3.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 4,995 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.72, for a total transaction of $2,151,446.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 107,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,310,583.68. The trade was a 4.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Thomas Nevens sold 3,738 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.04, for a total transaction of $1,342,091.52. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,258,002.56. This trade represents a 37.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,014 shares of company stock worth $13,457,571. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena Profile

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.