HighTower Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 77.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,095 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,613 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the first quarter valued at approximately $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Ciena by 139.6% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,061 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ciena by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $13,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,117 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at about $233,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $341.11 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $365.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $263.93 and its 200 day moving average is $195.25. The stock has a market cap of $48.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 401.31, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.09.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Barclays increased their target price on Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $252.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 83,552 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 307,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,641,134.40. This represents a 21.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total value of $1,921,741.64. Following the sale, the director owned 9,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,116,746.52. This represents a 47.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 160,083 shares of company stock worth $37,204,740 over the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.