Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases 168,736 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 309.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 223,203 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 168,736 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.16% of Ciena worth $86,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 635.7% in the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 103 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 71.0% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 85.5% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 141 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total transaction of $559,320.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,921,580.10. This represents a 2.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total value of $1,225,639.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 62,382 shares in the company, valued at $29,082,488.40. This trade represents a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,627 shares of company stock worth $10,974,985. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $373.72 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $495.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $404.91. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $83.20 and a 52 week high of $637.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $52.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.57 and a beta of 1.27.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Ciena from $350.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Citigroup upped their price target on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $530.56.

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.