Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 92.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,604 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,648 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in Ciena in the first quarter valued at about $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake 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 valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,061 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Ciena by 1.4% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its stake in Ciena by 14.6% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in Ciena in the second quarter valued at about $234,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn started coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, May 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.79, for a total transaction of $566,148.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 45,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,297,072.39. The trade was a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $537.74, for a total transaction of $1,587,408.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,461 shares in the company, valued at $148,126,398.14. This trade represents a 1.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 42,974 shares of company stock valued at $17,418,863 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $580.31 on Tuesday. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $70.77 and a fifty-two week high of $593.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 369.63, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $435.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $304.80.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.