Portolan Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 88,786 Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 88,786 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,933,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 50.4% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 698 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $943,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,071 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 42.5% in the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 312 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total transaction of $5,300,631.87. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 91,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,747,625.85. This trade represents a 18.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total value of $1,921,741.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,116,746.52. The trade was a 47.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 156,235 shares of company stock worth $36,941,890. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Ciena from $280.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Evercore set a $330.00 price objective on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Zacks Research cut Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 target price (up from $280.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $320.65.

Ciena Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $337.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.72 billion, a PE ratio of 214.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $365.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $284.42 and a 200 day moving average of $213.59.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.