Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 8,294 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 313,965 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 8,294 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of Ciena worth $45,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atreides Management LP bought a new stake in Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth about $102,705,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Ciena by 3,577.9% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,032,393 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,965,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,323 shares in the last quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP grew its stake in Ciena by 546.9% during the second quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP now owns 997,425 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $81,106,000 after buying an additional 843,235 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ciena by 35.0% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,708,540 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $220,286,000 after purchasing an additional 702,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 124.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,220,927 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $99,298,000 after buying an additional 677,299 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.67.

Ciena Stock Down 8.2%

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $253.75 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $171.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $35.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 298.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $285.97.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total transaction of $2,741,522.78. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total value of $1,921,741.64. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,422 shares in the company, valued at $2,116,746.52. This trade represents a 47.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 164,042 shares of company stock worth $37,766,026. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

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.