Ciena Corporation $CIEN Stake Decreased by Systematic Financial Management LP

Systematic Financial Management LP lessened its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 56.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,669 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 21,331 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,898,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the first quarter valued at approximately $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 139.6% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 14.6% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Down 0.0%

Ciena stock opened at $583.65 on Monday. 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 $82.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 371.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $70.77 and a 1 year high of $599.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $478.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $329.09.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total transaction of $2,025,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 46,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,105. The trade was a 9.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total value of $9,021,337.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares in the company, valued at $27,866.40. The trade was a 99.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 44,174 shares of company stock worth $18,878,661. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $355.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Evercore set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.83.

Ciena Company 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.