Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Increases Stake in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 35.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,484 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,310 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in Ciena were worth $4,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter worth $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Ciena by 139.6% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,061 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 1.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $13,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in Ciena by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 47,085 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,829,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on CIEN. Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Northland Securities set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. BNP Paribas Exane set a $185.00 price target on Ciena and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.67.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,116,746.52. This trade represents a 47.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total transaction of $2,741,522.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 49,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,370,344.50. This represents a 19.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 167,890 shares of company stock valued at $38,277,035 over the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Trading Up 6.5%

CIEN opened at $247.36 on Wednesday. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $261.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 291.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $223.29 and its 200-day moving average is $164.60.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The company’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. Analysts expect 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.