Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Acquires 1,660 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 169.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,637 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Archer Investment Corp purchased a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $528,000. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its stake in Ciena by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 36,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $14,287,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 2,078 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Triglav Investments D.O.O. purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $854,000. Finally, Arlington Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the first quarter valued at approximately $405,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total value of $559,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,921,580.10. The trade was a 2.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 2,629 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total value of $1,225,639.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 62,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,082,488.40. This trade represents a 4.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,627 shares of company stock valued at $10,974,985. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus set a $650.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Ciena from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $350.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $530.56.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $418.13 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.38 and a beta of 1.27. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $80.83 and a 52-week high of $637.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $501.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $402.93.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

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.