Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Buys New Stake in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 9,552 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,234,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at $1,231,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth $9,537,000. North Dakota State Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth $1,316,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth $2,747,810,000. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth $7,163,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Trading Up 5.9%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $587.69 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $70.77 and a one year high of $598.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81. The firm has a market cap of $83.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 374.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $473.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $326.32.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $355.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.65, for a total value of $684,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,074,931.65. The trade was a 2.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.05, for a total transaction of $1,659,171.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 272,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $153,163,683.45. This represents a 1.07% 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 44,174 shares of company stock worth $18,878,661. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.