Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Purchased by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 86.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 510,449 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 236,568 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Ciena were worth $119,379,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 104.0% in the third quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 42.5% during the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 312 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $569.20 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $496.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $340.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 362.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $70.77 and a fifty-two week high of $605.61. The company has a quick ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. Ciena’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $430.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $404.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total value of $9,021,337.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 68 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,866.40. The trade was a 99.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.05, for a total value of $1,659,171.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 272,509 shares in the company, valued at $153,163,683.45. This represents a 1.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 44,174 shares of company stock worth $18,878,661 in the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.