Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Bought by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 8.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 31,473 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,387 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $11,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 13,964 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,306,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the period. Shelton Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth $267,000. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth $659,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in Ciena by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,483 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $522,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in Ciena by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 601 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Trading Down 7.0%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $331.73 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $159.56 and a 1 year high of $637.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $376.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $440.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 3.80, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a net margin of 10.87% and a return on equity of 25.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.18, for a total transaction of $974,691.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 240,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $79,284,802.68. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 2,857 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.91, for a total transaction of $1,016,834.87. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,946,578.89. The trade was a 25.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,862 shares of company stock worth $12,017,320. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. Northland Securities set a $550.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. B. Riley Financial cut their price objective on Ciena from $516.00 to $413.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 31st. UBS Group cut their price objective on Ciena from $508.00 to $394.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Ciena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $506.11.

Ciena Profile

Ciena Corporation is a networking technology company that provides communications infrastructure, software and services for telecommunications providers, cloud operators, enterprises, governments and research institutions. Its solutions are designed to help organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support applications such as cloud computing, broadband connectivity, data center interconnection and 5G services.

The company’s portfolio includes optical networking systems and coherent optical technologies, routing and switching platforms, broadband access solutions, network management software and professional services.