Neuberger Berman Group LLC Decreases Holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Neuberger Berman Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 9.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,647,074 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 177,643 shares during the quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC owned 1.16% of Ciena worth $99,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CIEN. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Ciena by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Ciena by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in Ciena by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 38,910 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,351,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in Ciena by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,649 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Ciena stock opened at $94.70 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $13.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $82.70 and a 200-day moving average of $76.47. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.23, for a total transaction of $559,164.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 325,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,770,552.11. This trade represents a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total transaction of $187,162.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,829,056.50. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 25,819 shares of company stock worth $2,047,280. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CIEN. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target (up previously from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Ciena to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.54.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company’s Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.