Savant Capital LLC Grows Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 39,154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,379 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $5,704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in Ciena during the first quarter valued at $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Ciena by 139.6% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Ciena by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in Ciena by 14.6% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 29.8% in the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,868 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $559,000 after purchasing an additional 1,575 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total value of $5,300,631.87. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 91,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,747,625.85. The trade was a 18.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total value of $1,921,741.64. Following the sale, the director owned 9,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,116,746.52. This trade represents a 47.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 164,042 shares of company stock worth $37,766,026. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. B. Riley reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ciena from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $240.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.67.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $253.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market cap of $35.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 297.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.01. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $285.97.

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

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.