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

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management cut its Ciena stake by 29.1% in the first quarter, selling 149,695 shares and ending with 364,547 shares valued at about $141.5 million.
• Ciena posted strong quarterly results, beating expectations with EPS of $1.64 and revenue of $1.57 billion, while revenue jumped 39.5% year over year.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on the stock: several firms raised price targets, and the consensus rating is Moderate Buy with an average target of $530.56.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 29.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 364,547 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 149,695 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.26% of Ciena worth $141,528,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Community Bank N.A. bought a new position in Ciena during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 71.0% during the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total value of $559,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 42,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,921,580.10. The trade was a 2.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total transaction of $1,349,123.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 266,605 shares in the company, valued at $121,843,817.10. The trade was a 1.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 40,374 shares of company stock worth $18,324,470 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $461.88 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $518.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $378.78. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $76.89 and a twelve month high of $637.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 153.96 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. B. Riley Financial increased their price objective on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Ciena from $350.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $530.56.

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.

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