Archer Investment Corp Buys New Stake in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Archer Investment Corp bought a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,360 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $528,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth $2,747,810,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,102,409 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,193,300,000 after purchasing an additional 750,128 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $947,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,132 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Ciena by 10.4% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $284,313,000 after buying an additional 329,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 30,114.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $671,365,000 after buying an additional 2,861,176 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price target on Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, B. Riley Financial increased their price objective on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $530.56.

Ciena Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $445.18 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $506.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $400.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $76.89 and a 1-year high of $637.51. The firm has a market cap of $63.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 148.39 and a beta of 1.27.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.05, for a total transaction of $1,659,171.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 272,509 shares in the company, valued at $153,163,683.45. The trade was a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total transaction of $739,599.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,992,499.76. This represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. 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 have sold 22,827 shares of company stock worth $11,541,133. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.