Dilation Capital Management LP Acquires Shares of 19,623 Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Dilation Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 19,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,858,000. Ciena comprises about 1.4% of Dilation Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Ciena during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Ciena by 107.5% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.00.

Ciena News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Ciena this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Momentum and strong growth narrative — Zacks has highlighted CIEN as a momentum/growth pick (Rank #1 / Strong Buy), which can attract retail and momentum-oriented flows. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Underlying fundamentals and secular demand — recent coverage (including Yahoo/MarketBeat pieces) points to accelerating revenue, strong post-earnings guidance and secular demand for optical/network buildouts, supporting longer-term upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Peer comparison visibility — analyst and media comparisons versus peers (e.g., Forbes piece vs. Arista) can re‑ignite interest from investors repositioning within networking stocks. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage breadth — multiple firms maintain a mix of Buy/Hold ratings and the consensus target is near current levels; that stabilizes expectations but doesn’t provide a decisive catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Hedge‑fund/coverage mentions — several hedge‑fund roundups include CIEN; increased visibility may help liquidity but no clear large-scale position shifts were reported. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade / thematic concern — Bank of America lowered its view on Ciena, flagging rising AI spending risks that could pressure networking capex and near-term demand, which is pressuring the stock. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling — recent SEC filings show SVP Jason Phipps sold ~21,383 shares (~$5.3M) and CEO Gary Smith sold 2,993 shares (~$741k) on Jan. 15; large insider sales often trigger short‑term selling pressure despite executives retaining large stakes. Read More. Read More.

Ciena Trading Down 3.9%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $231.90 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.66 billion, a PE ratio of 272.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $261.13. The business’s fifty day moving average is $219.81 and its 200 day moving average is $159.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.45, for a total transaction of $2,642,514.10. Following the sale, the director owned 50,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,414,350.80. This trade represents a 18.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total value of $2,741,522.78. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 49,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,370,344.50. This trade represents a 19.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 167,890 shares of company stock worth $38,277,035. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

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.