JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 1,219,787 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 23.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,219,787 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $941,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Atreides Management LP purchased a new stake in Ciena in the second quarter worth about $102,705,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Ciena by 3,577.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,032,393 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,965,000 after buying an additional 1,004,323 shares in the last quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP raised its position in shares of Ciena by 546.9% in the 2nd quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP now owns 997,425 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $81,106,000 after purchasing an additional 843,235 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 124.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,220,927 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $99,298,000 after buying an additional 677,299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Munro Partners acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth about $81,128,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ciena from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.67.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.45, for a total transaction of $2,642,514.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 50,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,414,350.80. The trade was a 18.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total value of $1,921,741.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,116,746.52. The trade was a 47.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 157,131 shares of company stock valued at $36,320,587 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Down 0.6%

Ciena stock opened at $302.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 355.35, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $308.81. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $247.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 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.