Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by 12th Street Asset Management Company LLC

Key Points

• 12th Street Asset Management trimmed its Ciena stake by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 5,368 shares and leaving it with 179,584 shares worth about $42 million. Ciena remains its second-largest holding, making up 6.9% of the portfolio.
• Wall Street sentiment is bullish on Ciena, with several analysts raising price targets, including JPMorgan to $550 and Citigroup to $658. The stock now carries a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.83.
• Ciena reported strong quarterly results, posting earnings of $1.35 per share on $1.43 billion in revenue, both above expectations. Revenue jumped 33.1% year over year, while analysts expect full-year EPS of 5.12.

12th Street Asset Management Company LLC cut its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 179,584 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 5,368 shares during the period. Ciena makes up 6.9% of 12th Street Asset Management Company LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. 12th Street Asset Management Company LLC owned 0.13% of Ciena worth $41,999,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,747,810,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 23.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $941,451,000 after buying an additional 1,219,787 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Ciena by 10.4% in 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. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter worth about $292,310,000. Finally, Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Ciena by 48.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,983,000 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $288,864,000 after acquiring an additional 648,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Evercore set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $398.83.

Ciena Trading Down 0.0%

CIEN stock opened at $583.65 on Tuesday. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $70.77 and a twelve month high of $599.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 371.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $483.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $331.92.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm's revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 281,365 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $116,909,971.15. This trade represents a 1.04% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 44,174 shares of company stock worth $18,878,661. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

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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