Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Sells 363 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,599 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 363 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $2,245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Ciena during the first quarter worth $1,137,000. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 12.7% in the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,971 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $482,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 38,910 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,351,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 28.6% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 48,879 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,954,000 after acquiring an additional 10,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 245.0% during the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 75,319 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,552,000 after acquiring an additional 53,488 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $196.05 on Wednesday. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $214.17. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $171.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.45. The company has a market cap of $27.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 202.11, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $844.44 million during the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $127.50 to $175.00 in a report on Friday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, October 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $153.20.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total value of $59,276.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 40,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,884,992.08. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total value of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 54,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,653,914.88. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 51,935 shares of company stock worth $8,029,442 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

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.