6,441 Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN Bought by Congress Asset Management Co.

Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 6,441 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $938,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 48,976 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,960,000 after acquiring an additional 4,265 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 1.2% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 488,162 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,500,000 after purchasing an additional 5,682 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 153.2% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 49,184 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,941,000 after purchasing an additional 29,758 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 224.2% in the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,304 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $925,000 after purchasing an additional 10,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 450.6% in the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,150 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 5,033 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Argus raised their price objective on Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Northland Capmk downgraded Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $270.00 target price on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.50.

Ciena Trading Up 2.3%

NYSE CIEN opened at $235.62 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $195.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.95. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $248.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market cap of $33.19 billion, a PE ratio of 277.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The business’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total transaction of $1,309,748.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 254,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,090,510.70. This trade represents a 2.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total transaction of $262,943.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 43,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. This trade represents a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,873 shares of company stock worth $10,062,655. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena’s product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.