Norden Group LLC Takes $337,000 Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,442 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $337,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $292,310,000. Atreides Management LP purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at $102,705,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ciena by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after buying an additional 1,219,787 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Ciena by 2,174.2% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,143,855 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $166,625,000 after buying an additional 1,093,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Ciena by 3,577.9% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,032,393 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $83,965,000 after buying an additional 1,004,323 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $11,414,350.80. This represents a 18.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total value of $2,025,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 46,341 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,105. This trade represents a 9.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 148,283 shares of company stock valued at $36,397,491 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CIEN. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $286.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $320.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upped their target price on Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.12.

Ciena Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $402.67 on Monday. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $446.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 256.48, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $316.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $235.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect 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.