Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Purchases 29,200 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 253.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 40,700 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 29,200 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $5,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $1,182,000. SMART Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $207,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Ciena by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,437 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Ciena by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $941,451,000 after buying an additional 1,219,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its position in shares of Ciena by 0.8% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 50,798 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,400,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 5.1%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $334.77 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 393.86, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.21 and a 12 month high of $340.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $253.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $188.95.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total transaction of $1,921,741.64. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,422 shares in the company, valued at $2,116,746.52. The trade was a 47.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 49,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,370,344.50. This represents a 19.43% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 160,083 shares of company stock worth $37,204,740 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Northland Securities set a $190.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on Ciena from $135.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.67.

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.