Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Sells 143,710 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 19.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 612,861 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 143,710 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $89,275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,088,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,227,143,000 after acquiring an additional 103,199 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Ciena by 7.4% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $426,420,000 after purchasing an additional 359,579 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Ciena by 10.4% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $284,313,000 after purchasing an additional 329,821 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 35.0% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,708,540 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $220,286,000 after buying an additional 702,909 shares during the period. Finally, Senvest Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 1,655,012 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $134,602,000 after buying an additional 182,900 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Up 7.5%

NYSE CIEN opened at $271.88 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $38.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 319.86, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average of $234.17 and a 200-day moving average of $173.93. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $285.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

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

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 owned 50,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,414,350.80. The trade was a 18.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total transaction of $2,741,522.78. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 49,475 shares in the company, valued at $11,370,344.50. This represents a 19.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 164,042 shares of company stock valued at $37,766,026. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CIEN. Wall Street Zen lowered Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. BNP Paribas Exane set a $185.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Evercore set a $240.00 target price on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.67.

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.