John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Lowers Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 24.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,100 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $4,814,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 635.7% in the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 103 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 71.0% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 85.5% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 141 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $58,741.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 126,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,186,421. This represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total value of $1,225,639.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 62,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,082,488.40. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,627 shares of company stock worth $10,974,985. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Ciena from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price target on Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities set a $450.00 price objective on Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Ciena from $425.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $530.56.

Ciena Trading Down 3.9%

NYSE CIEN opened at $373.72 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $83.20 and a 52 week high of $637.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $495.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $403.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $52.90 billion, a PE ratio of 124.57 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 the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS 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.