Citigroup Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Citigroup Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 6.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 256,575 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 18,264 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.18% of Ciena worth $37,375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth $1,993,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at about $1,726,000. World Investment Advisors bought a new position in Ciena in the second quarter valued at about $253,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Ciena by 7.4% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $426,420,000 after purchasing an additional 359,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 38.7% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 112,011 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,317,000 after purchasing an additional 31,225 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 83,552 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.44, for a total transaction of $19,170,170.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 307,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,641,134.40. This trade represents a 21.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total transaction of $1,921,741.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,116,746.52. This represents a 47.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 160,083 shares of company stock worth $37,204,740 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ciena Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $342.69 on Wednesday. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $348.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $48.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 403.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $258.33 and a 200 day moving average of $193.11.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The business’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Northland Securities set a $190.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Argus upped their price target on Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $252.13.

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.