Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $557,000 Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,821 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $557,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,993,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at $1,726,000. World Investment Advisors bought a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $253,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7.4% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $426,420,000 after purchasing an additional 359,579 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Ciena by 38.7% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 112,011 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $16,317,000 after purchasing an additional 31,225 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, December 21st. Evercore set a $330.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $213.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $260.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The stock was 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 directly owned 50,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,414,350.80. This trade represents a 18.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.51, for a total value of $884,153.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,549,895.88. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 153,283 shares of company stock worth $35,894,992 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Down 6.1%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $332.07 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $270.50 and a 200-day moving average of $202.00. The stock has a market cap of $46.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 390.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.08. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $365.90.

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

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.