Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Trims Stake in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 42.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,507 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,289 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 200.0% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 97,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $37,969,000 after acquiring an additional 65,200 shares in the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 31.5% during the 1st quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 4,383 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in shares of Ciena by 125.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,991 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $6,985,000 after acquiring an additional 10,023 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 7,225 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,805,000 after acquiring an additional 2,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,244 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $483,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.65, for a total transaction of $684,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 43,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,074,931.65. The trade was a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $739,599.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 42,872 shares in the company, valued at $19,992,499.76. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 21,627 shares of company stock valued at $10,974,985 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Ciena from $425.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, B. Riley Financial boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. One research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $389.93 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $477.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $410.54. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $84.41 and a fifty-two 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. Analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ciena

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.