Ethic Inc. Increases Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Ethic Inc. raised its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,238 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,330,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $292,310,000. Atreides Management LP purchased a new stake in Ciena in the second quarter valued at approximately $102,705,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 valued at $941,451,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,787 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Ciena by 2,174.2% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,143,855 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $166,625,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093,557 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 3,577.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,032,393 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,965,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,323 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Bank of America raised their target price on Ciena from $355.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $430.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,866.40. This represents a 99.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.79, for a total transaction of $566,148.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 45,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,297,072.39. This trade represents a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 42,974 shares of company stock worth $17,418,863. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Up 5.9%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $580.31 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $82.06 billion, a PE ratio of 369.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $435.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $304.80. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $70.77 and a 12-month high of $593.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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

About Ciena

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.