Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft Buys Shares of 11,738 Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated a new position in Ciena, buying 11,738 shares worth about $2.745 million in the fourth quarter.
• Institutional interest in Ciena remains high, with several other investors adding to or starting positions and institutions now owning 91.99% of the company’s stock.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with Ciena holding a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $367.56, while recent earnings topped estimates and revenue rose 33.1% year over year.

Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 11,738 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,745,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Ciena by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,629 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at $1,318,000. Atria Investments Inc lifted its stake in Ciena by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 29,876 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $6,987,000 after acquiring an additional 2,843 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth about $3,416,000. Finally, Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,549 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $279.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $430.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, B. Riley Financial lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $367.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $537.74, for a total transaction of $1,587,408.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,461 shares of the company's stock, valued at $148,126,398.14. This represents a 1.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.79, for a total value of $566,148.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 45,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,297,072.39. This represents a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold a total of 42,974 shares of company stock valued at $17,418,863 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $578.44 on Thursday. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $70.77 and a 1 year high of $598.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 2.14. The firm has a market cap of $81.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 368.44, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $444.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $310.56.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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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