Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 48.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 156,922 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 146,396 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Ciena worth $60,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,161 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 3,156 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 445,359 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $104,156,000 after purchasing an additional 155,712 shares during the last quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings in Ciena by 164.0% during the fourth quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. now owns 660,988 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $154,585,000 after purchasing an additional 410,588 shares during the period. TKG Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the first quarter valued at $3,244,000. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS increased its position in Ciena by 1,095.8% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 27,527 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $6,438,000 after buying an additional 25,225 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $373.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $52.90 billion, a PE ratio of 124.57 and a beta of 1.27. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $83.20 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $495.15 and a 200-day moving average of $403.75.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $58,741.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 126,955 shares in the company, valued at $59,186,421. This represents a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $1,225,639.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 62,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,082,488.40. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,627 shares of company stock worth $10,974,985. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the topic of several research reports. Northland Securities set a $450.00 target price on Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $530.56.

Ciena 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.