Ciena Corporation $CIEN Stock Holdings Trimmed by 12th Street Asset Management Company LLC

12th Street Asset Management Company LLC lowered its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 184,952 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 193,156 shares during the quarter. Ciena makes up about 4.6% of 12th Street Asset Management Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. 12th Street Asset Management Company LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $26,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 50.4% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $45,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total value 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 approximately $22,747,625.85. This trade represents a 18.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.45, for a total transaction of $2,642,514.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 50,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,414,350.80. This represents a 18.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 157,242 shares of company stock valued at $36,341,766 over the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $293.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 345.12, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $49.21 and a twelve month high of $308.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a 50 day moving average of $241.88 and a 200 day moving average of $179.07.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Argus boosted their target price on Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.67.

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.