Yousif Capital Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 45,815 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,734 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $6,674,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 34.7% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Ciena by 107.5% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in Ciena by 82.5% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,203 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 21.5% during the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,455 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Finally, Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total transaction of $1,921,741.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,116,746.52. This represents a 47.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 1,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.42, for a total transaction of $284,545.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 80,244 shares in the company, valued at $11,508,594.48. This represents a 2.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 47,412 shares of company stock worth $8,877,100. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CIEN. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. B. Riley reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.50.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $240.06 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $33.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 282.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.17. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $49.21 and a twelve month high of $248.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.86.

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