Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Acquired by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 450.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,150 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,033 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Ciena by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,227,020 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $273,684,000 after buying an additional 49,996 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its holdings in Ciena by 113.7% in the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $183,987,000 after buying an additional 1,154,260 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Ciena by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,238,284 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $105,019,000 after buying an additional 257,197 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the first quarter valued at $70,065,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 971.7% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 729,722 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $61,891,000 after buying an additional 661,630 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.54, for a total value of $615,672.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 311,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,244,586.78. The trade was a 2.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total value of $187,162.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,829,056.50. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,969 shares of company stock worth $2,694,781 over the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $92.90 on Thursday. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $49.21 and a twelve month high of $101.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $86.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.13 billion, a PE ratio of 129.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Ciena has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Ciena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on Ciena in a report on Monday, June 30th. Evercore ISI reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Ciena to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.54.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company’s Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.