Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Purchased by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its Ciena stake by 37.6% in the fourth quarter, adding 10,153 shares and bringing its total holding to 37,180 shares valued at about $8.7 million.
• Ciena reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $1.64 versus the $1.46 estimate and revenue of $1.57 billion versus $1.50 billion expected; revenue also jumped 39.5% year over year.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on the stock, with 13 Buy ratings and 7 Hold ratings and an average target price of $530.56, even as some recent analyst targets were raised sharply.

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 37.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,180 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,153 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Ciena were worth $8,695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,747,810,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,102,409 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,193,300,000 after purchasing an additional 750,128 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $947,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,132 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Ciena by 10.4% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $284,313,000 after buying an additional 329,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 2,861,176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $428.02 on Monday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $519.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $373.21. 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 Corporation has a 1 year low of $73.55 and a 1 year high of $637.51. The company has a market capitalization of $60.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.67 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Zacks Research lowered Ciena from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Ciena from $350.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ciena from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $530.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total transaction of $2,025,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 46,341 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,105. This trade represents a 9.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total value of $1,226,585.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 281,365 shares of the company's stock, valued at $116,909,971.15. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 45,374 shares of company stock worth $20,349,470 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.