Baird Financial Group Inc. Has $466,000 Stock Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. has reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation by 55% in the first quarter, now holding 7,713 shares valued at approximately $466,000.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their investments in Ciena, with AdvisorNet Financial Inc. raising its stake by an impressive 9,162.5%.
• Analysts show a positive sentiment with several upgrades, including Bank of America raising its price target for Ciena from $95 to $135 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Baird Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 55.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,713 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 9,426 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Ciena were worth $466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ciena by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its holdings in Ciena by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in Ciena by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its holdings in Ciena by 9,162.5% in the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 741 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Ciena from $95.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price objective on Ciena in a report on Monday, June 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $114.32.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $129.94 on Thursday. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $131.40. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $18.33 billion, a PE ratio of 133.96, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.16.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total value of $187,162.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 84,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,829,056.50. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 47,198 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,769 shares of company stock worth $3,326,705. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena 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.

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