Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 1,283,357 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 70.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 534,254 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,283,357 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.38% of Ciena worth $43,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $253,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Ciena by 375.4% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $100,499,000 after acquiring an additional 975,792 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Ciena by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $426,420,000 after acquiring an additional 359,579 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 516.6% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 18,719 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after acquiring an additional 15,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 322.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 34,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,912,000 after purchasing an additional 25,986 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total value of $1,185,555.32. Following the sale, the director directly owned 54,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,653,914.88. The trade was a 13.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total value of $1,309,748.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 254,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,090,510.70. This trade represents a 2.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 44,785 shares of company stock valued at $7,734,906. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $270.00 price objective on Ciena in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ciena from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America upped their price target on Ciena from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.38.

Ciena Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $216.26 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.11. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $248.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.50 billion, a PE ratio of 254.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena Company Profile

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.