13,683 Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN Bought by Lecap Asset Management Ltd.

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 13,683 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,993,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.0% during the third quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 29,500 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,297,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 78,276 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,402,000 after purchasing an additional 16,255 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its position in Ciena by 111.5% during the 3rd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,250 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. Gries Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $338,000. Finally, Earned Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $347,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $270.00 target price on Ciena in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Northland Securities set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. B. Riley restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.50.

Ciena Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $258.92 on Thursday. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $211.69 and a 200 day moving average of $148.63. The stock has a market cap of $36.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 304.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.13.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 83,552 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.44, for a total value of $19,170,170.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 307,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,641,134.40. The trade was a 21.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.84, for a total transaction of $121,462.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 39,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,831,833.28. The trade was a 1.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 127,117 shares of company stock worth $28,068,125. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.