Ciena Corporation $CIEN Holdings Raised by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 6.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,890 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,921 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $10,868,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the second quarter valued at approximately $404,948,000. Swiss National Bank raised its position in Ciena by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 413,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $160,468,000 after purchasing an additional 26,900 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 321,825 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $124,942,000 after purchasing an additional 31,098 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 332,271 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $116,900,000 after buying an additional 12,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 24.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 266,384 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $93,719,000 after buying an additional 52,382 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on CIEN. Northland Securities set a $550.00 target price on Ciena and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Barclays upped their price target on Ciena from $475.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Ciena from $635.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $485.93.

Ciena Trading Up 5.6%

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $300.30 on Wednesday. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $168.22 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 3.80 and a quick ratio of 3.17. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $359.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $402.45.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, Director Thomas Nevens sold 3,738 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.04, for a total value of $1,342,091.52. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,258,002.56. This represents a 37.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 4,995 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.72, for a total value of $2,151,446.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 107,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,310,583.68. This trade represents a 4.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 33,062 shares of company stock worth $12,336,372 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software, and services for communications networks. Its solutions help telecommunications carriers, cloud providers, enterprises, government organizations, and research institutions build, manage, and automate high-capacity networks.

The company’s portfolio includes optical networking systems, routing and switching platforms, network automation software, and network management tools. Ciena also offers consulting, implementation, maintenance, and professional services designed to support network planning, deployment, optimization, and ongoing operations.