Truist Financial Corp Sells 2,052 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Truist Financial Corp lowered its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 15.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,298 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,052 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Ciena Trading Up 7.5%

NYSE CIEN opened at $271.88 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $234.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.93. The firm has a market cap of $38.29 billion, a PE ratio of 319.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $285.97.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The company’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore set a $240.00 price objective on Ciena in a report on Thursday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ciena from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Argus lifted their price objective on Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.60, for a total value of $784,051.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 301,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $80,195,264. This trade represents a 0.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total transaction of $5,300,631.87. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 91,765 shares in the company, valued at $22,747,625.85. This trade represents a 18.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 164,042 shares of company stock valued at $37,766,026 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.93% 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.