DNB Asset Management AS Acquires New Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

DNB Asset Management AS bought a new position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,302 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $335,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at about $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Ciena by 139.6% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 1.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,419,000 after buying an additional 3,117 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 14.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 733 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the second quarter valued at approximately $253,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total value of $1,921,741.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,422 shares in the company, valued at $2,116,746.52. This trade represents a 47.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total transaction 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 approximately $22,747,625.85. This trade represents a 18.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 156,235 shares of company stock worth $36,941,890 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. 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. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Argus boosted their price target on Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, B. Riley Financial restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $260.80.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $344.40 on Thursday. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $365.90. The company has a market cap of $48.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 405.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.08. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $203.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm 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%.The business’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 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS 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.