Caxton Associates LLP Makes New Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Caxton Associates LLP acquired 62,342 shares of Ciena Corporation, valued at approximately $3.77 million, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Ciena, with Bank of America and Argus increasing their targets to $135.00, reflecting positive sentiment about the company's growth potential.
• Ciena reported quarterly earnings of $0.42 per share, missing expectations, but showed a 23.6% increase in revenue compared to the same period last year.

Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 62,342 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,767,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CIEN. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Ciena by 157.9% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 111,536 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $9,459,000 after acquiring an additional 68,285 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,139 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,454,000 after acquiring an additional 7,440 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 60.3% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,745 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 4,794 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,804 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,680,000 after buying an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 171.1% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,667 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $141,000 after buying an additional 1,052 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Wolfe Research raised Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Argus boosted their price target on Ciena from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ciena from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ciena from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $114.32.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded down $1.35 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $131.15. The company had a trading volume of 2,778,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,736,332. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.21 and a 12 month high of $134.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.20, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.16. The firm's fifty day moving average is $93.98 and its 200 day moving average is $78.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.28.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $631,924.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 305,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,358,240.01. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total value of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,769 shares of company stock valued at $3,326,705. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.