37,479 Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN Bought by SEB Asset Management AB

SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 37,479 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,550,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Ciena by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,161 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 3,156 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ciena by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 445,359 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $104,156,000 after acquiring an additional 155,712 shares in the last quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. raised its position in Ciena by 164.0% during the fourth quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. now owns 660,988 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $154,585,000 after acquiring an additional 410,588 shares during the period. TKG Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ciena during the first quarter worth $3,244,000. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in Ciena by 1,095.8% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 27,527 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,438,000 after purchasing an additional 25,225 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CIEN. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $425.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Bank of America lifted 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. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. One equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $378.31 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $491.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $405.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 126.10 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $83.20 and a 52-week high of $637.51.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total value of $559,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,921,580.10. This represents a 2.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total transaction of $739,599.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,872 shares in the company, valued at $19,992,499.76. This trade represents a 3.57% 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 have sold 21,627 shares of company stock worth $10,974,985 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.