Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Decreases Stock Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lessened its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 45.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 166,171 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 140,341 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $64,513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Community Bank N.A. bought a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 71.0% in the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Northland Securities set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $530.56.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total transaction of $1,349,123.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 266,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $121,843,817.10. The trade was a 1.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $449.36, for a total value of $56,619.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 127,081 shares in the company, valued at $57,105,118.16. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. 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 17,120 shares of company stock valued at $8,872,766. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $422.47 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $513.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $389.62. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $76.89 and a 12 month 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 firm has a market capitalization of $59.80 billion, a PE ratio of 140.82 and a beta of 1.27.

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