Joule Financial LLC Makes New $628,000 Investment in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Joule Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 10,390 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $628,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $887,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 959,831 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $81,403,000 after acquiring an additional 4,315 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,129,000. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $328,000. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $380,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $72.88 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $70.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The stock has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a PE ratio of 127.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.12. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $44.69 and a 1 year high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on CIEN. Wall Street Zen cut Ciena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective (up previously from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total value of $199,825.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 202,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,175,434.10. This represents a 1.22% 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. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.18, for a total transaction of $443,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 391,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,534,199.82. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 51,788 shares of company stock worth $3,431,319. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company’s Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.