Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Sells 848,358 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership reduced its holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 37.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,388,477 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 848,358 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.98% of Ciena worth $539,048,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC now owns 1,142 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.8% in the first quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $654,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 9.5% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 358 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,107 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,194,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 71.0% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Ciena from $350.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $530.56.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN opened at $406.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $57.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 135.46 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $480.43 and a 200 day moving average of $409.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $84.41 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total value of $559,320.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,921,580.10. The trade was a 2.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total value of $1,225,639.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 62,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,082,488.40. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 21,627 shares of company stock worth $10,974,985 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company 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.