Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,624 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,316,640 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,299,004,000 after buying an additional 139,941 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,236,920 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $444,143,000 after buying an additional 17,447 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 195.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,626,153 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $392,345,000 after buying an additional 3,062,883 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,227,020 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $273,684,000 after buying an additional 49,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,419,947 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $205,301,000 after buying an additional 11,933 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $77.99 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $44.89 and a 12 month high of $101.44. The business’s 50 day moving average is $78.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.76.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total value of $187,162.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 84,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,829,056.50. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total value of $199,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 202,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,175,434.10. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,919 shares of company stock valued at $3,115,199 in the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company’s Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.