Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Acquired by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 22.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 585,747 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 106,991 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.42% of Ciena worth $85,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $1,993,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ciena during the third quarter worth about $1,726,000. World Investment Advisors acquired a new position in Ciena during the second quarter worth about $253,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Ciena by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $426,420,000 after acquiring an additional 359,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Ciena by 38.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 31,225 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group increased their price target on Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ciena from $213.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $260.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, 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 value of $5,300,631.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 91,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,747,625.85. The trade was a 18.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.51, for a total transaction of $884,153.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 298,988 shares in the company, valued at $89,549,895.88. This trade represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 153,283 shares of company stock valued at $35,894,992. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $332.07 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $270.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $202.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.73. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $365.90. The company has a market capitalization of $46.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 390.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.08.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results 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 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena Company 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.