Axa S.A. Sells 119,716 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Axa S.A. reduced its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 25.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 349,381 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 119,716 shares during the period. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $28,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 28.6% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 48,879 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,954,000 after acquiring an additional 10,856 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Ciena by 2.9% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 12,868 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Ciena by 7.1% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 306,306 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $18,510,000 after purchasing an additional 20,307 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 20.3% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 328,595 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $19,857,000 after purchasing an additional 55,402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Ciena by 15.4% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CIEN. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Ciena from $130.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ciena from $140.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.73.

Ciena Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of CIEN opened at $214.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $183.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $126.07. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 221.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.17. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $219.88.

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 return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 3.10%.The firm had revenue of $844.44 million during the quarter. Equities research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total transaction of $1,309,748.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 254,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,090,510.70. This represents a 2.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total value of $262,943.82. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,531 shares in the company, valued at $6,143,965.34. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 51,935 shares of company stock worth $8,707,266 in the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.