EntryPoint Capital LLC Has $651,000 Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• EntryPoint Capital LLC significantly increased its holdings in Ciena Corporation by 125.8% during the first quarter, now owning about 10,770 shares valued at $651,000.
• Several analysts upgraded Ciena shares, with ratings improving from "hold" to "buy," and the average target price set at $85.54, indicating optimism for the company's performance.
• Ciena's quarterly earnings showed a revenue increase of 23.6% year-over-year, despite missing EPS estimates, highlighting ongoing growth within the communications equipment sector.

EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 125.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 10,770 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,001 shares during the quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $651,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Ciena by 195.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,626,153 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $392,345,000 after buying an additional 3,062,883 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the first quarter valued at approximately $70,065,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its position in shares of Ciena by 113.7% during the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $183,987,000 after buying an additional 1,154,260 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 971.7% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 729,722 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $61,891,000 after buying an additional 661,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the fourth quarter worth $38,071,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.94, for a total value of $31,829.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 43,268 shares in the company, valued at $3,934,791.92. This trade represents a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,829,056.50. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 32,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,694,781. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an "underweight" rating and set a $70.00 price objective (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.54.

Ciena Stock Performance

Ciena stock traded up $2.4020 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $89.7620. 1,971,296 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,606,376. The firm has a market cap of $12.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.67, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $85.05 and a 200 day moving average of $76.77. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.21 and a 12 month high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%.The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Ciena has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

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.