Pinebridge Investments LLC Takes $1.72 Million Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Pinebridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 7,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,715,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,852,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in shares of Ciena by 74.8% during the 4th quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 4,700 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after buying an additional 2,011 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,107 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,194,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Victrix Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore set a $330.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $470.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business’s 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 owned 281,365 shares in the company, valued at $116,909,971.15. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total transaction of $2,025,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 46,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,105. This trade represents a 9.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 44,174 shares of company stock worth $19,502,359 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Down 4.7%

Ciena stock opened at $465.50 on Tuesday. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $70.85 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $517.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $357.67. The company has a market capitalization of $65.89 billion, a PE ratio of 155.17 and a beta of 1.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current 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.