Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Sells 14,645 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. trimmed its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 91.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,389 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 14,645 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $84,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 9,162.5% in the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 741 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total value of $166,872.16. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 47,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,853,244.72. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total value of $187,162.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,829,056.50. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,769 shares of company stock worth $3,326,705 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Ciena from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Ciena from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ciena from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. B. Riley reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $113.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Ciena from $95.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.32.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN opened at $116.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.48 billion, a PE ratio of 120.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $122.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.29.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.61%. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

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.