Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Takes $2.40 Million Position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 39,690 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,398,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Ciena by 195.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,626,153 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $392,345,000 after purchasing an additional 3,062,883 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc raised its position in shares of Ciena by 113.7% during the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $183,987,000 after buying an additional 1,154,260 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Ciena by 4,215.9% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 899,828 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $76,314,000 after acquiring an additional 878,979 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Ciena by 971.7% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 729,722 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $61,891,000 after acquiring an additional 661,630 shares during the period. Finally, Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ciena during the fourth quarter worth $45,341,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on CIEN. Citigroup decreased their price target on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ciena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 7th. Finally, Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $83.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,344,769.04. The trade was a 17.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.19, for a total transaction of $504,492.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 348,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,853,731.20. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,138 shares of company stock valued at $3,517,997 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of CIEN stock traded up $0.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $74.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,646,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,380,024. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $72.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.08. The company has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.40 and a quick ratio of 2.57. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $44.89 and a 1-year high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Ciena Company Profile

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.