Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 724 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC reduced its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 26.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,025 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 724 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $91,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in Ciena by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 373,399 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $16,807,000 after purchasing an additional 64,215 shares in the last quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Washington Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,345 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its position in Ciena by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 419,220 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $18,869,000 after buying an additional 99,300 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 23,954 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 9,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Ciena by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 18,529 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $834,000 after acquiring an additional 9,542 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on Ciena in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $44.00 price objective on the stock. BNP Paribas started coverage on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.79.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $46.76 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $50.50 and a 200-day moving average of $48.25. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $39.94 and a one year high of $63.24. The stock has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a PE ratio of 30.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.29 and a quick ratio of 3.12.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.20, for a total transaction of $501,586.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 407,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,521,988.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 70,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.11, for a total value of $3,833,044.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 424,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,942,964.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.20, for a total value of $501,586.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 407,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,521,988.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 107,189 shares of company stock worth $5,754,880. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Profile

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company's Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.