Bailard Inc. Takes Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Bailard Inc. acquired a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 8,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $671,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ciena by 11.6% in the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,366 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,498 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $195,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 107.5% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 32.4% during the 2nd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 44,555 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,624,000 after acquiring an additional 10,904 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 4.1% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,301 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $512,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $631,924.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 305,157 shares in the company, valued at $28,358,240.01. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total transaction of $262,943.82. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,531 shares in the company, valued at $6,143,965.34. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 51,824 shares of company stock valued at $8,008,263 over the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Bank of America increased their price target on Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas set a $185.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $153.20.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $191.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $27.00 billion, a PE ratio of 197.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $214.17. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $163.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.19. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. Ciena had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 3.10%. Equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena 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.