Moors & Cabot Inc. Decreases Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Moors & Cabot Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 29.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,025 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,287 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $707,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Ciena by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,161 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $7,288,000 after buying an additional 3,156 shares during the last quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter worth about $1,726,000. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 164.0% in the fourth quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. now owns 660,988 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $154,585,000 after purchasing an additional 410,588 shares in the last quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 222.7% in the fourth quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,596 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,712,000 after purchasing an additional 8,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 1,095.8% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 27,527 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $6,438,000 after purchasing an additional 25,225 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total value of $2,025,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 46,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,105. This represents a 9.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total transaction of $1,226,585.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 281,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,909,971.15. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,222 shares of company stock worth $17,831,763. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CIEN. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. B. Riley Financial lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $406.61.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $580.59 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $500.69 and a 200-day moving average of $342.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $70.77 and a 12 month high of $605.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 369.80 and a beta of 1.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.