Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Sells 64,922 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich trimmed its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 70.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,031 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 64,922 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Ciena were worth $6,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter worth about $292,310,000. Atreides Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $102,705,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,787 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2,174.2% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,143,855 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $166,625,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,557 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 3,577.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,032,393 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,965,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004,323 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $537.74, for a total transaction of $1,587,408.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 275,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,126,398.14. The trade was a 1.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.79, for a total value of $566,148.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 45,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,297,072.39. The trade was a 2.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 42,974 shares of company stock valued at $17,418,863 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. TD Cowen started coverage on Ciena in a report on Thursday, March 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Evercore set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $355.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.56.

Ciena Stock Up 2.2%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $590.44 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $70.77 and a twelve month high of $598.84. The company has a market cap of $83.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 376.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $450.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $313.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 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.