Broad Peak Investment Advisers Pte Ltd Purchases New Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Broad Peak Investment Advisers opened a new position in Ciena during Q1, buying 24,300 shares valued at about $9.43 million. The stake now represents roughly 1.9% of Broad Peak’s portfolio and is its 16th-largest holding.
• Several other institutional investors also adjusted their Ciena holdings, and institutional ownership stands at 91.99% of the company’s stock. This underscores strong interest from large investors despite recent mixed insider activity.
• Ciena posted better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $1.64 on revenue of $1.57 billion, both ahead of analyst estimates. Analysts remain generally constructive, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $530.56.

Broad Peak Investment Advisers Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 24,300 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $9,434,000. Ciena makes up approximately 1.9% of Broad Peak Investment Advisers Pte Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth about $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 139.6% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,061 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $13,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,117 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 14.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $234,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on CIEN. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Northland Securities set a $450.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Bank of America raised their price target on Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn started coverage on Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $416.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Zacks Research cut Ciena from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $530.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total value of $1,349,123.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 266,605 shares of the company's stock, valued at $121,843,817.10. This represents a 1.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total transaction of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 68 shares in the company, valued at $27,866.40. This represents a 99.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 40,500 shares of company stock worth $18,381,089 in the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $477.74 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $518.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $384.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 159.25 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $76.89 and a 52 week high of $637.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73.

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

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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