FORA Capital LLC Acquires New Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 15,850 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,309,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 83,552 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $70,641,134.40. This represents a 21.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 50,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,414,350.80. The trade was a 18.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 156,235 shares of company stock worth $36,941,890. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price target (up from $280.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Zacks Research cut shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. B. Riley Financial increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $320.65.

Ciena Stock Up 0.2%

CIEN opened at $337.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81. The company has a market capitalization of $47.72 billion, a PE ratio of 214.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $284.42 and its 200-day moving average is $213.59. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $365.90.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict 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.