Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Invests $9.54 Million in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 40,655 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,537,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,747,810,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,787 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $284,313,000 after acquiring an additional 329,821 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $292,310,000. Finally, Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 48.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,983,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $288,864,000 after acquiring an additional 648,000 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Ciena from $280.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Barclays boosted their price target on Ciena from $279.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. B. Riley Financial boosted their price target on Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.83.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $587.69 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.10 billion, a PE ratio of 374.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 2.14. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $473.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $326.32. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $70.77 and a fifty-two week high of $598.84.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total value of $2,025,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 46,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,105. The trade was a 9.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total value of $1,226,585.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 281,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $116,909,971.15. This represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 44,174 shares of company stock valued at $18,878,661 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.