Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by ABN Amro Investment Solutions

ABN Amro Investment Solutions lessened its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 37.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,300 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 20,894 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions’ holdings in Ciena were worth $13,316,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 32.2% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 17,826 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,921,000 after buying an additional 4,337 shares during the last quarter. Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth about $243,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft grew its holdings in Ciena by 15.7% during the first quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 13,582 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,844 shares during the period. Andra AP fonden acquired a new stake in Ciena during the first quarter worth about $3,975,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI purchased a new position in Ciena during the first quarter valued at approximately $245,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ciena from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Northland Securities set a $450.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.83, for a total transaction of $1,383,986.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 254,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,498,203.38. The trade was a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total transaction of $739,599.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 42,872 shares in the company, valued at $19,992,499.76. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 21,627 shares of company stock worth $10,974,985 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $407.89 on Wednesday. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $83.20 and a 1-year high of $637.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.96 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50-day moving average is $487.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $407.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

About Ciena

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.