Dilation Capital Management LP Makes New $2.86 Million Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Dilation Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 19,623 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,858,000. Ciena comprises 1.4% of Dilation Capital Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 11.1% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.3% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $943,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,071 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $593,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,889 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $712,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, Nwam LLC grew its position in Ciena by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 2,505 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $231.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.09. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $219.81 and a 200 day moving average of $159.65. The company has a market cap of $32.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 272.83, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Argus increased their price objective on Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Northland Securities set a $190.00 price target on shares of Ciena and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.00.

Trending Headlines about Ciena

Here are the key news stories impacting Ciena this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Momentum and strong growth narrative — Zacks has highlighted CIEN as a momentum/growth pick (Rank #1 / Strong Buy), which can attract retail and momentum-oriented flows. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Underlying fundamentals and secular demand — recent coverage (including Yahoo/MarketBeat pieces) points to accelerating revenue, strong post-earnings guidance and secular demand for optical/network buildouts, supporting longer-term upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Peer comparison visibility — analyst and media comparisons versus peers (e.g., Forbes piece vs. Arista) can re‑ignite interest from investors repositioning within networking stocks. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage breadth — multiple firms maintain a mix of Buy/Hold ratings and the consensus target is near current levels; that stabilizes expectations but doesn’t provide a decisive catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Hedge‑fund/coverage mentions — several hedge‑fund roundups include CIEN; increased visibility may help liquidity but no clear large-scale position shifts were reported. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade / thematic concern — Bank of America lowered its view on Ciena, flagging rising AI spending risks that could pressure networking capex and near-term demand, which is pressuring the stock. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling — recent SEC filings show SVP Jason Phipps sold ~21,383 shares (~$5.3M) and CEO Gary Smith sold 2,993 shares (~$741k) on Jan. 15; large insider sales often trigger short‑term selling pressure despite executives retaining large stakes. Read More. Read More.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.45, for a total value of $2,642,514.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 50,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,414,350.80. This trade represents a 18.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total transaction of $1,921,741.64. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,116,746.52. This trade represents a 47.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 167,890 shares of company stock valued at $38,277,035 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

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.