Profund Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Profund Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 24.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,714 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,885 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. World Investment Advisors bought a new position in Ciena during the second quarter valued at about $253,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Ciena by 375.4% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $100,499,000 after purchasing an additional 975,792 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in Ciena by 516.6% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 18,719 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,131,000 after buying an additional 15,683 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 322.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 34,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,912,000 after buying an additional 25,986 shares during the period. Finally, Connective Portfolio Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at $651,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of CIEN opened at $209.36 on Thursday. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $214.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.73. The firm has a market cap of $29.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 215.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. On average, analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total transaction of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at $7,653,914.88. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total value of $59,276.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 40,653 shares in the company, valued at $6,884,992.08. This trade represents a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 58,974 shares of company stock valued at $8,655,764. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Barclays raised their price target on Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, B. Riley restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $113.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $153.20.

About Ciena

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.