Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,319 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,885 shares during the period. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,088,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,227,143,000 after purchasing an additional 103,199 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 7.4% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $426,420,000 after buying an additional 359,579 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Ciena by 10.4% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $284,313,000 after buying an additional 329,821 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 35.0% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,708,540 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $220,286,000 after buying an additional 702,909 shares during the period. Finally, Senvest Management LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 12.4% during the second quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 1,655,012 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $134,602,000 after acquiring an additional 182,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on CIEN. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 price target on Ciena in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.67.

Ciena Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $297.41 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $239.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 349.90, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $308.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.45, for a total transaction of $2,642,514.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 50,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,414,350.80. This represents a 18.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total value of $5,300,631.87. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 91,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,747,625.85. This represents a 18.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 157,242 shares of company stock worth $36,341,766. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company 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.