Becker Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Becker Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 218,076 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,902 shares during the quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $31,767,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CIEN. Lumbard & Kellner LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $252,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $278,000. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth approximately $557,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 22.3% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 585,747 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $85,326,000 after acquiring an additional 106,991 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1,509.4% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 853 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 83,552 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.44, for a total transaction of $19,170,170.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 307,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,641,134.40. The trade was a 21.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.45, for a total value of $2,642,514.10. Following the sale, the director owned 50,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,414,350.80. The trade was a 18.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 160,083 shares of company stock worth $37,204,740 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, December 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Evercore set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $252.13.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $348.53 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $266.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $198.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $49.30 billion, a PE ratio of 410.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.07. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $365.90.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.