Horizon Investments LLC Buys 57,606 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 240,025.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,630 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,606 shares during the quarter. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $13,478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ciena by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after buying an additional 1,219,787 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $284,313,000 after buying an additional 329,821 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $292,310,000. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 48.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,983,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $288,864,000 after acquiring an additional 648,000 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,836,981 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $267,593,000 after acquiring an additional 130,507 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. B. Riley Financial lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $355.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $358.94.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $536.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $414.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 341.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $70.67 and a 52-week high of $550.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

More Ciena News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ciena this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/industry bullishness: Seeking Alpha highlights a surging backlog (now ~$7B) and accelerating backlog-to-cash conversion that supports revenue and cash-flow growth, arguing CIEN is well positioned for hyperscaler AI demand. Ciena Corp.: Buy As Backlog To Cash Is Rolling
• Positive Sentiment: Sector buy call: Zacks includes CIEN among communication-component stocks to tap the rally from 5G, fiber and AI tailwinds, reinforcing investor interest in the group. Buy 2 Communication Component Stocks to Tap Recent Rally
• Positive Sentiment: Brokerage sentiment and momentum: Broker consensus is around “Moderate Buy” and the stock recently hit a record high on the NYSE Composite, signaling strong market momentum and institutional interest. Ciena Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” Ciena Hits Record High
• Neutral Sentiment: Peer/company-news signal: Coverage of Lumentum’s upcoming Q3 frames broad industry demand for optics and AI-driven revenue growth — a positive sector signal for Ciena but not direct company news. Lumentum Q3 Earnings Loom
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF/flow context: Mentions of CIEN in mid-cap/smart-beta ETF coverage may support passive demand but are a secondary factor vs. direct earnings/backlog news. Is FNX a Strong ETF Right Now?
• Negative Sentiment: Celebrity pundit caution: Jim Cramer publicly said CIEN is “a little too hot” and that he’d “hold off,” which can sap conviction among retail traders and short-term momentum despite strong fundamentals. Jim Cramer on Ciena Jim Cramer on Ciena: “I’m Going to Have to Hold Off”

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total transaction of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares in the company, valued at $27,866.40. The trade was a 99.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.53, for a total transaction of $1,061,332.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 293,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,372,490.52. The trade was a 1.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,974 shares of company stock valued at $16,615,505. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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.