Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $15.28 Million Stock Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 34.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,350 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,050 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Ciena were worth $15,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 71.0% in the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 53.6% during the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, Community Bank N.A. bought a new position in Ciena during the third quarter worth $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. B. Riley Financial increased their price target on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price objective on Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $530.56.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $449.36, for a total value of $56,619.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 127,081 shares in the company, valued at $57,105,118.16. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.65, for a total value of $684,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 43,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,074,931.65. The trade was a 2.66% 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 have sold a total of 17,120 shares of company stock worth $8,872,766 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $422.47 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $76.89 and a twelve month high of $637.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $513.83 and a 200-day moving average of $389.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.82 and a beta of 1.27.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. Ciena’s revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Ciena Company 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.