Providence Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Providence Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 46.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,476 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 39,759 shares during the quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $6,625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter worth $55,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total transaction of $5,300,631.87. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 91,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,747,625.85. The trade was a 18.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the company’s 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 owned 301,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $80,195,264. This trade represents a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 157,242 shares of company stock worth $36,341,766. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Argus raised their price objective on Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.67.

Ciena Trading Up 6.5%

Shares of CIEN opened at $288.89 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 339.87, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $49.21 and a twelve month high of $297.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.96.

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