Machina Capital S.A.S. Buys Shares of 3,684 Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,684 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $537,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,993,000. World Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth approximately $253,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,726,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Ciena by 7.4% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $426,420,000 after acquiring an additional 359,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M & L Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter worth approximately $714,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ciena from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Northland Securities set a $190.00 price target on Ciena and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,414,350.80. This represents a 18.80% 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, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total transaction of $5,300,631.87. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 91,765 shares in the company, valued at $22,747,625.85. This trade represents a 18.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 164,042 shares of company stock worth $37,766,026. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $253.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $35.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 297.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $285.97. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $232.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $172.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current 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.