Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Cuts Stock Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management cut its Ciena position by 41.3% in the second quarter, selling 150,545 shares and retaining 214,002 shares valued at approximately $105 million.
• Ciena reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $1.64 beating estimates of $1.46 and revenue of $1.57 billion exceeding forecasts. Revenue increased 39.5% year over year.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive: 13 analysts rate Ciena a Buy and seven rate it a Hold, resulting in a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $530.56.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 214,002 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 150,545 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.15% of Ciena worth $104,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth about $2,747,810,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,102,409 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,193,300,000 after acquiring an additional 750,128 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $947,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404,132 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 10.4% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $284,313,000 after acquiring an additional 329,821 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 30,114.5% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $671,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,861,176 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Trading Up 2.2%

CIEN stock opened at $412.82 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $84.41 and a 12-month high of $637.51. The stock has a market cap of $58.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 137.61 and a beta of 1.30. The business's 50-day moving average is $439.69 and its 200 day moving average is $419.26.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.Ciena's quarterly revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $58,741.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 126,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,186,421. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total value of $1,225,639.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 62,382 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,082,488.40. This represents a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 21,627 shares of company stock worth $10,508,776. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on CIEN shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Ciena from $425.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on Ciena in a report on Friday, May 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $416.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $530.56.

Ciena Company 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.

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