Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 2.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,985,246 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 331,394 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.54% of Ciena worth $905,558,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 73.7% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 9,162.5% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 741 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 733 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup reduced their target price on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Wolfe Research raised Ciena to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.54.

Ciena Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $93.42 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business has a fifty day moving average of $82.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.20. The stock has a market cap of $13.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.75, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $48.36 and a 52-week high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.57, for a total transaction of $28,899.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,601,538.26. This represents a 0.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total value of $199,825.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 202,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,175,434.10. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 35,469 shares of company stock worth $2,817,891. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

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.