Ciena Corporation $CIEN Stock Holdings Cut by Systematic Financial Management LP

Systematic Financial Management LP cut its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 57.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,018 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 9,651 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP’s holdings in Ciena were worth $2,725,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ciena during the first quarter worth about $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position 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 worth $317,000 after acquiring an additional 3,061 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position 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 worth $13,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in Ciena by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at about $234,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Down 4.3%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $389.93 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $477.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $409.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.98 and a beta of 1.27. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $84.41 and a 1-year high of $637.51. 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 (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $739,599.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,992,499.76. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.65, for a total transaction of $684,780.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,941 shares in the company, valued at $25,074,931.65. This represents a 2.66% decrease in their position. 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 sold a total of 21,627 shares of company stock valued at $10,974,985 over the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CIEN. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $350.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $530.56.

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.