Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Bought by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 28.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 48,879 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,856 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $2,954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Ciena by 195.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 49,996 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its position in shares of Ciena by 113.7% during the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $183,987,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,260 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 26.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,238,284 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $105,019,000 after acquiring an additional 257,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 971.7% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 729,722 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $61,891,000 after acquiring an additional 661,630 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.23, for a total value of $559,164.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 325,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,770,552.11. The trade was a 2.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total transaction of $187,162.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,829,056.50. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,819 shares of company stock worth $2,047,280 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN stock opened at $90.89 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $83.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.85 billion, a PE ratio of 126.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.40 and a quick ratio of 2.57.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI restated a “mixed” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.54.

About Ciena

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.