Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Sells 4,756 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lowered its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 46.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,525 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,756 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in Ciena during the 1st quarter worth approximately $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 139.6% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,117 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 14.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 29.8% in the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,868 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 1,575 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.60, for a total transaction of $784,051.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 301,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,195,264. This trade represents a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total transaction of $5,300,631.87. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 91,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,747,625.85. This trade represents a 18.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 164,042 shares of company stock valued at $37,766,026 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $271.88 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $285.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 319.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50-day moving average is $234.17 and its 200 day moving average is $173.93. 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 (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, December 21st. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.67.

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.