Inspire Investing LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Inspire Investing LLC trimmed its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,555 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,164 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ion Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 6.3% in the first quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,356,752 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $81,989,000 after buying an additional 80,426 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 375.4% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $100,499,000 after buying an additional 975,792 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth $70,065,000. Analog Century Management LP increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 33.0% in the first quarter. Analog Century Management LP now owns 841,311 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $50,840,000 after buying an additional 208,509 shares during the period. Finally, Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth $49,221,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on CIEN. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ciena to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.00, for a total transaction of $46,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,665,176. The trade was a 0.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.88, for a total transaction of $1,019,184.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 282,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,276,651.60. This trade represents a 2.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 45,724 shares of company stock worth $5,336,431. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $156.04 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.21 and a 12 month high of $165.24. The stock has a market cap of $22.01 billion, a PE ratio of 160.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $118.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.56.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. On average, equities analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.