Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Acquires Shares of 8,117 Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,117 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,182,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 50.4% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 104.0% in the third quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Trading Up 5.1%

CIEN opened at $334.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 393.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $253.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $188.95. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $340.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.09.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CIEN. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Evercore set a $330.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ciena from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $247.67.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total transaction of $2,741,522.78. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 49,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,370,344.50. The trade was a 19.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director directly owned 50,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,414,350.80. This represents a 18.80% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 160,083 shares of company stock valued at $37,204,740 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

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.