12th Street Asset Management Company LLC Trims Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

12th Street Asset Management Company LLC reduced its holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 184,952 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 193,156 shares during the quarter. Ciena makes up about 4.6% of 12th Street Asset Management Company LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. 12th Street Asset Management Company LLC owned about 0.13% of Ciena worth $26,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,993,000. World Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $253,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,726,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Ciena by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $426,420,000 after acquiring an additional 359,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M & L Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $714,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on CIEN shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, December 21st. 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. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 target price on Ciena in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.67.

Ciena Stock Down 1.3%

Ciena stock opened at $293.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $308.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 345.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of Ciena 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 50,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,414,350.80. The trade was a 18.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 83,552 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.44, for a total value of $19,170,170.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 307,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,641,134.40. This represents a 21.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 157,242 shares of company stock worth $36,341,766 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena 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.