First Eagle Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 118,349 Ciena Corporation $CIEN

First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 118,349 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,625,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Ciena at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at about $70,065,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in 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 last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in Ciena during the first quarter valued at approximately $49,221,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Ciena by 1,883.5% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 787,266 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $64,028,000 after acquiring an additional 747,576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 35.0% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,708,540 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $220,286,000 after acquiring an additional 702,909 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total value of $262,943.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total transaction of $1,185,555.32. Following the transaction, the director owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at $7,653,914.88. The trade was a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 52,174 shares of company stock worth $7,231,504. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena Trading Down 1.1%

Ciena stock opened at $199.15 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $153.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.38. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.21 and a 12 month high of $203.40. The stock has a market cap of $28.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 205.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Ciena from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Ciena from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $127.50 to $175.00 in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, B. Riley restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $113.00 target price (up from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.53.

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.