Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 43.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,760 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,603 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Ciena by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,161 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 3,156 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 445,359 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $104,156,000 after buying an additional 155,712 shares during the last quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 164.0% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1,095.8% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 27,527 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,438,000 after acquiring an additional 25,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peak Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 222.7% during the 4th quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,596 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,712,000 after acquiring an additional 8,003 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CIEN. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, May 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN opened at $477.74 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business’s 50 day moving average is $518.19 and its 200-day moving average is $384.52. The stock has a market cap of $67.63 billion, a PE ratio of 159.25 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $76.89 and a twelve month high of $637.51.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total transaction of $1,349,123.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 266,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $121,843,817.10. The trade was a 1.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total value of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,866.40. The trade was a 99.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,500 shares of company stock worth $18,381,089. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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.