Hsbc Holdings PLC Grows Stock Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 309.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 223,203 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 168,736 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $86,509,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Ciena by 71.0% in the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 635.7% during the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 103 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $1,225,639.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 62,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,082,488.40. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.83, for a total value of $1,383,986.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 254,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,498,203.38. The trade was a 1.14% 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 90 days, insiders have sold 21,627 shares of company stock valued at $10,974,985. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on CIEN. B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Ciena from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $530.56.

Ciena Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $373.72 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The company has a market cap of $52.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.57 and a beta of 1.27. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $83.20 and a 1 year high of $637.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $495.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $404.91.

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

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.