National Pension Service Sells 26,292 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

National Pension Service reduced its holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 272,251 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 26,292 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Ciena were worth $133,555,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 71.0% during the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Markowski Investments bought a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in Ciena by 2,100.0% in the 1st quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 88 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Ciena by 57.8% in the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN opened at $334.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $47.44 billion, a PE ratio of 74.67 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 3.80, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $130.00 and a 1 year high of $637.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $393.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $438.74.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%.The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

Key Headlines Impacting Ciena

Here are the key news stories impacting Ciena this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Northland Securities raised its earnings forecasts and maintained an Outperform rating. The firm increased its Q4 2026 EPS estimate to $1.83 from $1.51, FY2026 EPS to $6.05 from $5.39, and FY2027 EPS to $10.98 from $9.35. Its $500 price target implies substantial upside and reflects confidence in Ciena’s earnings growth. Northland Securities earnings estimates and price target
• Positive Sentiment: Ciena’s backlog and data-center exposure support the growth case. Its backlog is expected to exceed $10 billion by the end of fiscal 2026, while demand for optical networking and data-center interconnection remains strong. Spark’s launch of a dedicated data-center interconnect service using Ciena technology provides another commercial validation of this demand. Ciena backlog and supply constraints Spark launches data-center interconnect service with Ciena
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts project accelerating earnings through fiscal 2027. Northland estimates quarterly EPS rising from $2.15 in Q1 2027 to $3.41 in Q4 2027, substantially above the roughly $5.43 consensus estimate for the current year. These forecasts are supportive, but they depend on timely backlog conversion and continued demand. Northland Securities future earnings estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Supply constraints could delay revenue recognition. Although the backlog is growing, shortages or delivery bottlenecks may prevent Ciena from converting orders into revenue quickly, creating uncertainty around near-term results. The stock’s high earnings multiple also leaves less room for disappointment if growth is delayed. Can Ciena convert its backlog despite supply constraints?

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Ciena from $600.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Argus set a $550.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $450.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $475.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 42,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,992,499.76. This represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Marc Graff sold 4,995 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.72, for a total transaction of $2,151,446.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 107,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,310,583.68. The trade was a 4.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,422 shares of company stock worth $11,038,802. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software and services for communications networks. Its solutions help service providers, cloud companies, enterprises and government organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support broadband, cloud computing, data center interconnection and other digital services.

The company’s product portfolio includes optical networking systems, coherent optical technology, routers, switches, network control and automation software, and network management tools.