State of Wyoming Makes New Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

State of Wyoming bought a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,199 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,088,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,227,143,000 after acquiring an additional 103,199 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Ciena by 7.4% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $426,420,000 after purchasing an additional 359,579 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Ciena by 10.4% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $284,313,000 after buying an additional 329,821 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 35.0% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,708,540 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $220,286,000 after buying an additional 702,909 shares during the period. Finally, Senvest Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 1,655,012 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $134,602,000 after buying an additional 182,900 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 50,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,414,350.80. This represents a 18.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.60, for a total transaction of $784,051.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 301,940 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,195,264. The trade was a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 164,042 shares of company stock worth $37,766,026 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CIEN. BNP Paribas Exane set a $185.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 target price on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 price target on Ciena in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, Northland Securities set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Two equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.67.

Ciena Trading Up 7.5%

Shares of CIEN opened at $271.88 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $285.97. The firm has a market cap of $38.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 319.86, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $234.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.30. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

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.