Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by Analog Century Management LP

Key Points

• Analog Century Management LP cut its Ciena stake by 40.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 288,954 shares and leaving it with 428,787 shares worth about $100.3 million.
• Several analysts turned more bullish on Ciena, with multiple firms sharply raising price targets; the stock now has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target of $530.56.
• Ciena reported strong quarterly results, posting $1.64 EPS on $1.57 billion in revenue, both above estimates, while revenue jumped 39.5% year over year.

Analog Century Management LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 40.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 428,787 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 288,954 shares during the quarter. Ciena accounts for about 4.9% of Analog Century Management LP's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Analog Century Management LP owned approximately 0.30% of Ciena worth $100,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,107 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,194,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 71.0% during the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Ciena by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,629 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in Ciena by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 710 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $166,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Ciena by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CIEN. Rosenblatt Securities boosted 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. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Northland Securities set a $450.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Ciena from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $530.56.

Ciena Stock Up 0.0%

Ciena stock opened at $445.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $521.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $363.71. The company has a market cap of $63.04 billion, a PE ratio of 148.44 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $71.72 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total value of $2,025,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 46,341 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,768,105. The trade was a 9.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 44,174 shares of company stock valued at $19,502,359 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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