Rothschild Investment LLC Reduces Stock Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Rothschild Investment LLC reduced its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 88.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,768 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 14,180 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 710 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $166,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 50.4% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in Ciena by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,055 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,549 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 1.7% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,772 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $695,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total transaction of $1,226,585.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 281,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,909,971.15. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total transaction of $9,021,337.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,866.40. The trade was a 99.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 44,174 shares of company stock worth $18,878,661. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore set a $330.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $406.61.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $580.59 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $70.77 and a fifty-two week high of $605.61. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $500.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $341.74. The stock has a market cap of $82.09 billion, a PE ratio of 369.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share 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.