Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Bought by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management increased its Ciena stake by 24.5% in the third quarter, adding 52,382 shares for a total holding of 266,384 shares worth approximately $93.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 91.99% of Ciena.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with Ciena receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $506.11; Evercore upgraded the stock to “Outperform” with a $550 target.
• Ciena recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $2.11 in EPS and $1.67 billion in revenue, up 37% year over year. However, insiders sold more than $12 million of stock during the last quarter, while shares opened at $331.73, well below their 12-month high of $637.51.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 24.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 266,384 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 52,382 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.19% of Ciena worth $93,719,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Markowski Investments bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 2,100.0% in the 1st quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 88 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 57.8% in the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 635.7% during the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 103 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nvwm LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CIEN. Evercore raised shares of Ciena from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. CL King set a $347.00 price target on Ciena in a report on Friday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $506.11.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN opened at $331.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.80, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $159.56 and a 12-month high of $637.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $376.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $440.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.04 billion, a PE ratio of 74.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 1.28.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a net margin of 10.87% and a return on equity of 25.33%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, EVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.19, for a total transaction of $933,794.51. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 57,388 shares in the company, valued at $20,383,643.72. This trade represents a 4.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce Claflin sold 2,857 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.91, for a total value of $1,016,834.87. Following the sale, the director owned 8,279 shares in the company, valued at $2,946,578.89. This trade represents a 25.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 31,862 shares of company stock valued at $12,017,320 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena Profile

Ciena Corporation is a networking technology company that provides communications infrastructure, software and services for telecommunications providers, cloud operators, enterprises, governments and research institutions. Its solutions are designed to help organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support applications such as cloud computing, broadband connectivity, data center interconnection and 5G services.

The company's portfolio includes optical networking systems and coherent optical technologies, routing and switching platforms, broadband access solutions, network management software and professional services.

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