Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by Northern Trust Corp

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp has reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation by 2.4%, holding 1,208,075 shares valued at $73 million after selling 30,209 shares in the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Bank of America and Polar Capital, have increased their holdings in Ciena during the recent quarters, indicating strong interest in the company.
• Ciena's latest earnings report showed revenue of $1.13 billion, surpassing estimates, but missed EPS expectations at $0.42, highlighting mixed performance against market predictions.

Northern Trust Corp trimmed its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 2.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,208,075 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 30,209 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.85% of Ciena worth $73,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 1st quarter worth $219,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 40.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 1st quarter worth $2,398,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 28.6% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 48,879 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,954,000 after purchasing an additional 10,856 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $78.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ciena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley restated an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $86.69.

Ciena Trading Down 4.1%

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded down $4.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $93.85. 2,230,646 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,676,162. The company has a market capitalization of $13.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $101.44. The company has a current ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $87.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.87.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. Ciena's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. Ciena has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.94, for a total transaction of $31,829.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,934,791.92. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total transaction of $187,162.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,829,056.50. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,694,781. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company's Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.