Sona Asset Management US LLC Makes New Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Sona Asset Management US LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,553,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 71.0% during the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 635.7% during the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 103 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter worth $50,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $350.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Argus set a $650.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $530.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.65, for a total transaction of $684,780.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 43,941 shares in the company, valued at $25,074,931.65. This represents a 2.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $1,225,639.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 62,382 shares in the company, valued at $29,082,488.40. This represents a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 21,627 shares of company stock valued at $10,974,985 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $389.93 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The firm has a market cap of $55.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.98 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $477.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $410.54. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $84.41 and a one year high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS 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.