91,000 Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN Purchased by Ardmore Road Asset Management LP

Ardmore Road Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 91,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $35,329,000. Ciena accounts for 2.3% of Ardmore Road Asset Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.8% during the first quarter. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC now owns 1,142 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 1.8% in the first quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $654,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 9.5% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 358 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,107 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,194,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Ciena by 71.0% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $389.93 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $477.15 and a 200-day moving average of $410.54. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $84.41 and a 52 week high of $637.51. The company has a market capitalization of $55.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.98 and a beta of 1.27.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its 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. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total value of $1,225,639.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 62,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,082,488.40. This represents a 4.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.83, for a total value of $1,383,986.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 254,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $119,498,203.38. This trade represents a 1.14% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,627 shares of company stock valued at $10,974,985. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $530.56.

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.