Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Purchased by Empowered Funds LLC

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC increased its Ciena stake by 26.6% in the first quarter, holding 20,663 shares valued at approximately $8.0 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 91.99% of Ciena.
• Wall Street maintains a favorable view of Ciena, with 13 analysts rating it a Buy and seven a Hold, resulting in a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $530.56 price target.
• Ciena reported strong quarterly results, posting $1.64 in adjusted EPS and $1.57 billion in revenue, exceeding estimates and representing 39.5% year-over-year revenue growth. Shares recently opened at $428.92, down 3.1%.

Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 26.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,663 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 4,338 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $8,022,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at $2,747,810,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 30,114.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $671,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,176 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Ciena by 53.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $947,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,132 shares in the last quarter. Atreides Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at about $102,705,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 2,174.2% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,143,855 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $166,625,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,557 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total value of $559,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 42,741 shares in the company, valued at $19,921,580.10. This trade represents a 2.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $58,741.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 126,955 shares of the company's stock, valued at $59,186,421. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. 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 have sold a total of 17,475 shares of company stock valued at $8,164,824 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Northland Securities set a $450.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 5th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $425.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $530.56.

Ciena Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $428.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $424.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.60. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $84.41 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51. The company has a market cap of $60.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.97 and a beta of 1.30.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share 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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