434,292 Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN Acquired by Artisan Partners Limited Partnership

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 434,292 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $63,263,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned about 0.31% of Ciena as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,088,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,227,143,000 after acquiring an additional 103,199 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Ciena by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,787 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in 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 valued at $284,313,000 after purchasing an additional 329,821 shares during the period. Senvest Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 1,655,012 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $134,602,000 after purchasing an additional 182,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atreides Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $102,705,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report 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. Citigroup raised their price target on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price objective on Ciena in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $252.13.

Ciena Stock Up 2.2%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $348.53 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $365.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $266.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.02. The stock has a market cap of $49.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 410.04, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.45, for a total transaction of $2,642,514.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 50,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,414,350.80. This represents a 18.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 83,552 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 307,885 shares in the company, valued at $70,641,134.40. This represents a 21.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 160,083 shares of company stock valued at $37,204,740. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.