3,077 Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by Virtue Capital Management LLC

Virtue Capital Management LLC cut its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 83.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 598 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,077 shares during the quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Markowski Investments purchased a new stake in Ciena during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 2,100.0% during the 1st quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 88 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 57.8% during the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nvwm LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.18, for a total transaction of $974,691.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 240,126 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,284,802.68. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 4,995 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.72, for a total value 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 position. 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. Insiders sold 33,062 shares of company stock valued at $12,336,372 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. CL King set a $347.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ciena from $508.00 to $394.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Ciena from $635.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $485.93.

Ciena Stock Up 5.6%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $300.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $359.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $402.45. The company has a market cap of $42.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.03, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 3.80 and a quick ratio of 3.17. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $168.22 and a one year high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a net margin of 10.87% and a return on equity of 25.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software, and services for communications networks. Its solutions help telecommunications carriers, cloud providers, enterprises, government organizations, and research institutions build, manage, and automate high-capacity networks.

The company’s portfolio includes optical networking systems, routing and switching platforms, network automation software, and network management tools. Ciena also offers consulting, implementation, maintenance, and professional services designed to support network planning, deployment, optimization, and ongoing operations.