Bank of Nova Scotia Boosts Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 125.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,991 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,023 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Ciena were worth $6,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,747,810,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,102,409 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,193,300,000 after acquiring an additional 750,128 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $947,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404,132 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $284,313,000 after acquiring an additional 329,821 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 30,114.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $671,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,861,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total transaction of $559,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total value of $58,741.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 126,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,186,421. The trade was a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 21,627 shares of company stock worth $10,974,985 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. B. Riley Financial increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Ciena from $350.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $530.56.

Ciena Stock Down 3.8%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $376.25 on Tuesday. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $84.41 and a 52 week high of $637.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $474.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $411.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 125.42 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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