44 Wealth Management LLC Buys New Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

44 Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,759 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at about $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 139.6% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 3,061 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of Ciena by 14.6% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,301 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $337.50 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 2.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $284.42 and a 200-day moving average of $215.30. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $365.90. The company has a market cap of $47.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 214.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.07.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CIEN. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $279.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 target price (up from $280.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $250.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $320.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 49,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,370,344.50. The trade was a 19.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total value of $5,300,631.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 91,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,747,625.85. This trade represents a 18.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 147,131 shares of company stock valued at $34,898,686. Insiders own 0.58% 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.