Aristotle Capital Boston LLC Sells 17,176 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Aristotle Capital Boston LLC trimmed its holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 31.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 36,603 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 17,176 shares during the quarter. Aristotle Capital Boston LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $8,561,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CIEN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the first quarter valued at about $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 139.6% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 3,061 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,419,000 after buying an additional 3,117 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 14.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the second quarter valued at about $234,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $435.91 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 145.30 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $73.23 and a 1-year high of $637.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $521.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $370.05.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.Ciena’s revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Zacks Research cut Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price objective on Ciena in a report on Friday, May 29th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned 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 $530.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total value of $1,349,123.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 266,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $121,843,817.10. This represents a 1.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total value of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,866.40. This trade represents a 99.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 45,374 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,470 in the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.