Ciena Corporation $CIEN Stake Decreased by Stephens Investment Management Group LLC

Key Points

• Stephens Investment Management Group LLC reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation by 1.4%, holding 671,152 shares worth approximately $54.6 million after selling 9,685 shares.
• Several hedge funds have altered their positions in Ciena, with GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its stake by 40.4% during the first quarter.
• Analysts have a generally positive outlook on Ciena, with multiple brokerages raising their price targets, including UBS Group which increased its target from $78 to $120.

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 1.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 671,152 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 9,685 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC owned 0.47% of Ciena worth $54,585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 40.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,627 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $340,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,649 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,926 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Praxis Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 35.0% in the 1st quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,740 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $631,924.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 305,157 shares in the company, valued at $28,358,240.01. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total transaction of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 54,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,653,914.88. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,374 shares of company stock worth $5,936,444 over the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on CIEN. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. B. Riley reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $113.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ciena from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $140.00 in a report on Friday, October 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $137.53.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $169.54 on Wednesday. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $177.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.86. The company has a market capitalization of $23.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 174.78, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.15.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $844.44 million during the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena Profile

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.

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