Calamos Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Calamos Advisors LLC cut its stake in Ciena by 77.1% in Q4, selling 49,395 shares and leaving 14,664 shares worth about $3.43 million.
• Insiders sold a combined 42,974 shares (~$16.6 million) over the past three months, including CEO Gary B. Smith’s $1.23M sale and SVP Jason Phipps’ $9.02M sale, executed under Rule 10b5‑1 plans.
• Ciena beat quarterly estimates with $1.35 EPS and revenue up 33.1% YoY, and analysts have raised price targets, leaving a consensus “Moderate Buy” target of about $355.59.

Calamos Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 77.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 14,664 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 49,395 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $3,429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $1,993,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter worth $1,726,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,161 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $7,288,000 after buying an additional 3,156 shares during the period. Peak Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 222.7% during the fourth quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,596 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,712,000 after buying an additional 8,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at $568,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total transaction of $1,226,585.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 281,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,909,971.15. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total value of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 68 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,866.40. This trade represents a 99.69% 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 sold 42,974 shares of company stock worth $16,615,505 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $520.34 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81. The firm has a market cap of $73.58 billion, a PE ratio of 331.43, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.01. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $63.99 and a one year high of $527.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $399.49 and a 200 day moving average of $281.82.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for 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%. Ciena's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 5.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Ciena from $320.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. B. Riley Financial increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $355.59.

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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