2,957 Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN Acquired by Banque Transatlantique SA

Key Points

• Banque Transatlantique SA initiated a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter, buying 2,957 shares valued at about $692,000.
• Ciena reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $1.64 versus $1.46 expected and revenue of $1.57 billion, up 39.5% year over year.
• Analysts remain generally positive on the stock, with 13 Buy ratings and an average target price of $530.56, even as some insiders have recently sold shares.

Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,957 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $692,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,107 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,194,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 71.0% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Ciena by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,629 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kera Capital Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 2,026 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Trading Down 2.0%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $428.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $521.05 and a 200-day moving average of $371.61. The company has a market cap of $60.59 billion, a PE ratio of 142.67 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $73.55 and a one year high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total value of $1,349,123.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 266,605 shares of the company's stock, valued at $121,843,817.10. This represents a 1.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total value of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 68 shares in the company, valued at $27,866.40. This represents a 99.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 45,374 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,470. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Ciena from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Ciena from $470.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Argus set a $650.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Evercore set a $330.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $530.56.

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.

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