Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Acquired by CIBC Asset Management Inc

CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 43.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,532 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,969 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,528,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the first quarter valued at approximately $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Ciena by 139.6% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,117 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in Ciena by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at $234,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CIEN. Argus set a $650.00 price objective on Ciena in a report on Friday. Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on Ciena in a report on Friday, May 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 target price on the stock. Evercore set a $330.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Northland Securities set a $450.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.92, for a total transaction of $1,670,595.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 269,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,547,697.44. The trade was a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total value of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,866.40. This represents a 99.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 44,174 shares of company stock worth $19,502,359 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Down 4.7%

CIEN stock opened at $465.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 155.17 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $70.85 and a 52-week high of $637.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $517.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $357.67.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.14 EPS for the current 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.